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On a recent weekday at Annunciation B.V.M. Church in Havertown, a Mass was celebrated to pray for and honor police officers — both those on the front lines and those who have fallen in the line of duty.

It was an emotional service, especially given the number of police who have been brutally slain in the last several years.  The thought of a lonely and distraught spouse raising young children — including some unborn who never even glimpsed their father— was so heartbreaking as to be unthinkable.

The worst part is that there’s no rational way to explain, let alone overcome, the absolute senselessness of why these officers were slain.

Where is our country headed when cops are being killed with abandon?  

While all innocent human life is sacred, there is something different about shooting a law enforcement officer. It breaks down the last barrier of respect, and it violates the code that most criminals follow – you don’t take shots at police. Period.

Like anything else in life, once that taboo is broken, all bets are off.  In Philadelphia’s case, it is now obvious that cops are fair game. The breakdown of the city is virtually complete.

With civility and respect quickly becoming a faded memory, further imperiling our children’s future, people are increasingly asking what, if anything, can be done to reverse this deadly course.

The answer is simple.  It’s just not easy:

School choice.

*****

We have just witnessed the murder trial of cop-killers Eric Floyd and Levon Warner.  Both owners of long rap sheets, they heinously gunned down Officer Stephen Liczbinski in 2008. These animals deserve the death penalty, plain and simple, but that doesn’t answer how you stop such an atrocity from occurring in the future.

If you’re looking to politicians for help, you’ll be blind before that happens.

Every time there’s another crime in the headlines, Mayor Michael Nutter spews the same monotonous babble that the violence epidemic will be curtailed.

But nothing has changed. In fact, despite all the resources put into fighting crime, it’s only getting worse.

Whether its flash mobs, citizens getting gunned down, brutal subway attacks —or cops in the crosshairs, it’s clear that respect for authority is non-existent, and no one is off-limits to the predators.

Philadelphia’s murder, violence and homeless rates are among the highest in the nation, and there’s absolutely nothing to indicate that the situation will improve anytime soon, if ever.

Three things have become readily apparent:

1) The way we did things in the past hasn’t worked.

2) What we’re doing now isn’t having an impact.

3) Unless a bold leader takes steps to institute true reform and eschew band-aid solutions to gaping wounds, the city —and the region —will continue its plummet into the abyss.

Here’s the part no one wants to admit. There is NO short-term solution.

*****

We can talk all day about fairy-tale feel-good “solutions” by invoking vague rhetoric: community partnerships, town watches, more police, and of course, the ultimate panacea, banning guns.

But since we’ve been hearing that for decades, ad nauseum, here’s a newsflash to our leaders: none of these things work. And they’re not going to, either, because they are tactics without the benefit of a strategy.

Enter school choice.

The dire situation in which we find ourselves boils down to our horrendously bad educational system, and, as a direct result, the lack of hope in our young people.

With no possibility of receiving a quality education, and the prospects for a…..

Read the rest at Philadelphia Magazine’s Philly Post:

 http://blogs.phillymag.com/the_philly_post/2010/08/24/could-school-choice-prevent-cop-killings/

Chris Freind is an independent columnist and investigative reporter who operates his own news bureau, www.FreindlyFireZone.com

Readers of his column, “Freindly Fire,” hail from six continents, thirty countries and all fifty states. His work has been referenced in numerous publications including The Wall Street Journal, National Review Online, foreign newspapers, and in Dick Morris’ recent bestseller “Catastrophe.”

Freind also serves as a weekly guest commentator on the Philadelphia-area talk radio show, Political Talk (WCHE 1520), and makes numerous other television and radio appearances.  He can be reached at CF@FreindlyFireZone.com

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These Philadelphians and their crafty money making schemes….

Fear not, cupcake connoisseurs. The Philadelphia cupcake truck wasn’t out of business long.

Buttercream cupcake truck owner Kate Carrara says the city’s Department of Licenses and Inspections confiscated her truck Tuesday in the University City neighborhood, saying she was vending in a prohibited area.

She did have a license to do business in Philadelphia though, unlike those pesky bloggers.

Carrara says inspectors cornered her truck to prevent her from leaving before driving it away themselves. She says they gave her a removal report and a violation for vending in a prohibited area and left her on the street.

It cost her $200 to get her vehicle / bakery back.

So the city treasure is up overall.

Friends of business, that city.

Friends of business.

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            Much has been made about the new “Blogger Tax” that Philadelphia has put in place recently. Many people have stated how this tax is malicious in the fact that typically this tax is taking 6x’s the amount of money that any person has made from their individual blog. What’s also been said is how this is just another way to show how a city that is incapable of creating anything even remotely looking like a balanced budget is just trying to figure out how to shake more money loose from people’s pockets, just like a bully in your old school yard from when we were kids.

            What most people are not recognizing though is that this isn’t about money. This isn’t about taxes. This isn’t about trying to balance a budget or receiving the proper tax money that the city feels entitled and owed. This is about control.

            Anyone that has ever experienced the wrath of a bully, like myself (I mean seriously people…how could I not with a name like Ian), knows that the point of what a bully is doing to you has nothing to do with your lunch money, or wanting to really hear you scream Uncle when your arm is wrenched behind your back, or calls you names in front of the whole school to make people laugh at you. The whole point of what a bully does is to make you dance to their tune and do as he says. He wants to flex his muscles and hurt you because he can, and because it gives him power over someone that he believes is weak or powerless to stop them. Control. “I can make you do what I want and there’s nothing you can do to stop me!” That’s the credo and mantra of the bully clan, and Philadelphia just showed its true colors.

            When you decide that the voice of another person is somehow subjected to an erroneous and outrageous fee on their thoughts and words, you’re doing this not to collect the maybe couple of thousands of dollars that a city could make from such a tax, but to specifically target those individuals that have the courage to make their voices heard and speak against the wrongs of an out-of-control government. It doesn’t matter what side of the aisle that the voice speaks from, the point is to shut them up or make them pay. What do you think is the likelihood that a stay-at-home mom with no extra income, and certainly none made from her blog, is going to do when the city comes along and tells her that you need to pay us $300 right now or cease and desist speaking your mind. She’s going to stop speaking her mind, and the bully will have won. This is the government version of “Gimme your lunch money or I will punch you in the face!”

             Whether this is a local borough, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the US Federal government, the City of Philadelphia, or a big dumb jerk in the playground, a bully is still a bully.

              In my younger days, when I was a small, four-eyed, scrawny little kid, I was at the mercy of these types of bullies at first. Mine was a boy by the name of Scott. After a while though, there’s only so much pain, fear, and teasing a boy can take. It wasn’t until I stood up to Scott one day on a spring morning in 4^th-grade and fought back that the teasing stopped. Sure I lost that fight, after all he was bigger and stronger than me, but it was from that moment forward that the veil of fear was lifted from him and everyone saw that even a little pipsqueak like me could make a bully bleed. Once that happens, a bully becomes nothing. A bully becomes something to have contempt and pity for, not fear.

             This is Philadelphia’s version of the bully wrenching your arm and telling you to scream Uncle. We need to stand against this intimidation, all of us who write on the web and have people who read us. We need to focus our attention on the City of Brotherly Love, like that fits right now or has for years, and verbally punch the bully in the face and make him bleed. Once that happens, he will lose all the power of a mean boy on the playground and become what he really is, a pitiful child with no self-control and something that we “Little Pipsqueak’s” should not tolerate any longer.

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The city’s official position, which isn’t much better…

The city says no.

It has a business-privilege license that is required of any business operating in the city. The license costs $50 a year or $300 for a lifetime license.

Well, some bloggers who make a few dollars from Web ads were informed recently that they had to obtain a license. Not because they were bloggers, the city says. But because they made money.

Something about small-time bloggers getting hit up for money by the government got a lot of blog writers and readers fired up.

“Unbelievably stupid,” wrote a commenter on BuzzFeed. “Even if you look past the issues of free speech and excessive regulation, no city progresses economically by making its young, tech-savvy residents move away.”

Philebrity, a local blog that makes money and has a business-privilege license, declared: “Philly brain drain is so drastic and wild that any sort of news story that runs anywhere about how the City, in an official capacity, discourages creativity or free speech feels like a punch in the face.”

I think the city has a sound position. It’s not about free speech or liberty or whatever. It’s about money.

Some blogs run as a business (very little, but some income), and the city isn’t business friendly.

50 years of a Democrat run city has led them to scrape the bottom of the bottom of the barrel for any possible source of income.

That’s the message that needs to sent.

Business people (of all kinds) have no friends in City Hall.

Just wait till they decide they can charge some kind of city-wage tax on blogs too.

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Everybody knows that only Democrats actually live in Philly. All local Republican bloggers actually write their blogs out of my home in Montgomery County, regardless of where they receive their mail.

I’m sure all the liberal Philly bloggers will welcome this opportunity to be a part of keeping the liberries open and keeping City Hall denizens in tasty perks. I salute them with a tip of my tax-free sugary soda.

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Alex may not be paying the Philly blogger tax, but is he taking in any of that blogger payola I’ve been reading about?

(And where do I send my invoices? Papa needs a new laptop.)

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I might live in Montco, but Tania and Denny and Mike Morrison live inside city limits.

The city is a broke Democratic Party embarrassment. Give it to New Jersey or back to the English.

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…because otherwise he’d be paying the Philadelphia Blogger Tax.

I have now, officially, seen everything.

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In a February, 2008 media report, Delaware River Port Authority (DRPA) Vice Chairman Jeff Nash, also an elected Camden County Freeholder, ominously warned that “…the deck of the Walt Whitman (Bridge) HAD a 50-year life span….We’re at 50 years, two months.”

Two and a half years later, the decking project of the Walt Whitman has not yet begun.  Why?  Lack of money, we are told, which is in part why the Port Authority just went further into debt by borrowing $320 million.

Of course, as with all things DRPA, that’s not the whole story.

The money was there.  They just chose to ignore the bridges, instead channeling huge bucks to perks and political patronage deals.

The DRPA has squandered nearly $400 million in so-called “economic development” projects that have nothing to do with the bridges, and now finds itself more than $1.5 billion in debt.

Due to intense media scrutiny, a series of reforms have been suggested by Ed Rendell, who, as Pennsylvania Governor, appoints the DRPA Chairman.  After his election in 2002, Rendell appointed himself Chairman, and last year made his former Chief of Staff and longtime political fundraiser and confidante John Estey —a partner at Ballard Spahr, the Governor’s former firm — the Chairman.

The reforms, while noteworthy, do not resolve the immense conflicts of interest which have gone unchecked for years and still permeate the entire Authority.

Like the fox being given oversight to “guard” the henhouse, Rendell and the DRPA audaciously expect the forgotten tollpayers — on whose back the DRPA has trodden — to believe that the reforms will be effectively implemented by the very people who are knee deep in all the conflicts.

For an example, let’s look at a conflict involving Vice Chairman Nash….

Read the rest at Philly Mag:

http://blogs.phillymag.com/the_philly_post/2010/08/03/more-questions-and-conflicts-at-drpa/

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John Barbero, the voice of the Pittsburgh Penguins, has died after a battle with cancer.

” ‘The Pittsburgh goal. Scored by No. 66. Mario …’ The way he stretched out that ‘uuuu’ with Mario’s last name, you can hear it now.”
-Mike Lange

Rest in peace, Barbero. We’ll never forget your voice.

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What actually happened: Andrew Breitbart put a clip from a speech made by Shirley Sherrod up on his website. In the clip, Sherrod admitted to discriminating against a poor white farmer in the past. And, actually, if you bothered to watch the entire clip put up by Breitbart, you would have seen her admit that it was wrong for her to do so, because she was supposed to be helping the poor regardless of skin color. The Obama Administration’s knee jerk reaction was to fire Sherrod, which left them with egg on their face when they bothered to watch the whole video. After the firing, Fox News started to cover the story.

What happened according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

That’s just plain wrong on so many levels.

And the Post-Gazette laughably said the following in their editorial:

The website that released the edited video is responsible for triggering the media firestorm. But the guiltiest party is an administration so insecure that it would throw a good employee to the wolves. This shameful capitulation to right-wing media must end before more reputations and careers are destroyed.

Rick Santorum, Dick Cheney, and Sarah Palin, check your voice mail. You might find a few hundred messages from the Post-Gazette apologizing for the endless dishonest attacks on your reputation. Or, not.

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Translation: “Scientists” not getting enough of our money to spend on nonsense.

When the Bush administration left office, there was a palpable sense of relief among the nation’s scientists. The Dark Ages, as many ironically referred to the period, were finally ending.

Apparently this is what science was like between 2001 and 2009:

Climate change, reproductive health, pollution and maintaining the integrity of fish and wildlife habitats were contentious issues between the Bush administration and the scientists who assailed it for elevating politics and corporate interests above science.

So the PG and “scientists” were mad that Bush didn’t agree with Al Gore’s disproven “documentary”, which ignored all actual scientific evidence that weather patterns are cyclical. The PG and “scientists” are also mad that Bush didn’t do more to kill unborn babies. Plus they’re mad that Bush advocated dumping toxic waste into rivers, or something. I don’t remember that happening, but if you ask the left, Bush did a lot of things that never actually happened.

Water quality experts in Florida, scientists studying the effect of dams on salmon populations in the West and environmentalists who expected a more rigorous approach to reviewing oil and gas exploration in Alaska after the Bush years ended are disappointed. They didn’t expect what they consider the Obama administration’s indifference to the environmental impact of its decisions.

So “scientists” are upset that Obama didn’t blow up dams and they’re upset that drilling for oil in ANWR hasn’t yet been declared a federal crime with a fine of infinity billion dollars and eight hundred years in prison.

The Obama administration insists it is committed to giving science an honored place in White House decisions, but it has done a lousy job of it so far. Despite its rhetoric, Mr. Obama’s White House has not moved quickly to reverse the anti-science culture still firmly in place. The long promised guidelines to help it ensure scientific integrity remain as ephemeral as ghosts — and that’s not very scientific, or competent at all.

C’mon, PG – give the guy a break. He’s doing his best to ensure that we’re spending as much taxpayer money as possible on killing unborn babies. That should make “scientists” happy.

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Nice.

What if you stopped by your local firehouse and found the firefighters who would normally be first to answer your call weren’t there at all that day?

It could happen.

The city announced as many as four units each day may be taken out of service in neighborhoods city wide in hopes of saving more than $3.5 million in overtime to ease the city’s budget crunch.

“He’s (Mayor Michael Nutter) rolling the dice and he’s playing Russian roulette with people’s lives,” said Bill Gault, President of Local 22, the firefighters’ union.

Unlike past permanent shutdowns of five engine and two ladder companies, which prompted large neighborhood protests, neighbors apparently won’t be told in advance or perhaps at all if their local engine or ladder company is being put out of service.

But the libraries will be spared.

So you can sleep there if your house burns down, I guess.

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The cries are getting louder.                                   

Despite their sweep of the Reds before the All Star break, the Phillies are still in third place, 4 1/2 games behind the Braves, with the trade of Cliff Lee last year looking more dubious by the day.

The criticism of that decision continues to grow.

After all, Lee went 4-0 with a 1.56 ERA in five postseason games last fall, including winning two against the Yankees in the World Series.  He was also a major reason the Phils were playing October baseball at all. 

After the season, fans salivated at the prospect of having Lee and Roy Halladay as the team’s top two starters, an unbeatable combination that all but guaranteed another deep playoff run.

But it was not to be.  Instead, Lee went to Seattle. 

And last week, the big news was that he was traded to the first place Texas Rangers, bolstering a team that always seems to fade in the second half of the season.  Now, they’re a legitimate threat to go all the way.

There’s only one problem.  That was a trade that should never have happened. 

The fact that it did is a direct affront to every Major League team owner, every player and every fan.

All except the Texas Rangers, that is.

Why?

Because the Rangers are in bankruptcy.

So instead of getting their financial house in order and doing the right thing — paying the people to whom they owe money —, Texas just pulled out the most improbable victory of the season.

But unlike most games, when there is one winner and one loser, the Rangers’ achievement came at the expense of the other 29 teams.

*****

How did a team in bankruptcy hit this home run?

That bastion of corruption, Major League baseball, came in as the relief pitcher.

Last year, it loaned the Rangers $18.5 million. That wasn’t enough, however, as the company of the team owner defaulted on its $525 million debt.  So MLB came through again in May with another $21.5 million.

So let’s get this straight.

A team that can’t pay its bills or meet payroll receives a loan from the League — whose money comes from the teams themselves, directly and indirectly — and then uses that money to acquire arguably the best pitcher in the game.

Hmmm.  Something with that picture just doesn’t seem right.

The result is similar to what happens when the U.S. government subsidizes companies, such as the GM bailout, in that it victimizes those who have done nothing wrong.  In effect, companies like Honda are punished for their efficient operations, fiscal responsibility and turning a profit. Why should they now have to compete against the unlimited resources of the United States government?

But here’s the difference. GM still makes a vastly inferior product, so Honda will continue to rule the day, although its road to success will be substantially hampered.

Not the case with the Rangers.  The “product” they acquired — with OTM (Other Teams’ Money) — happens to be superior to virtually all others on the market. And that will lead to a tougher road for a number of other teams.

How many millions in additional revenue is a playoff appearance worth to a given team?  Win the League Pennant and it’s even more.  Throw in a World Series showing, let alone a Championship, and the number skyrockets.

So if the Los Angeles Angels, second in the division behind Texas, lose out on a Division Title because of Lee’s prowess, or if, say, Detroit misses the Wildcard slot for the same reason, that’s millions down the drain because of what amounts to an illegitimate trade.

Competitors have given the Rangers the rope — in this case money — to hang the rest of the League.

And should we even mention the riot potential in Philadelphia if the Phils meet Texas in the World Series, only to lose Game 7 to Cliff Lee?

*****

Perhaps the most disturbing, but least surprising, aspect of this debacle is the lack of on-the-record displeasure from the other baseball teams.

Unfortunately, too many business “leaders” in this country, if that’s what they can be called, exhibit more cowardice than guts. And since baseball is a business, team owners, presidents and general managers are no exception.

Two things are certain:

1)  Most, if not all, of the other owners are furious that the Lee trade was permitted to occur, especially those vying for playoff spots.

2)  You will not see any of them publicly voice their opinion — with attribution —on the matter.

Oh, we’ll see anonymous quotes from owners and other executives deriding the decision, but none will dare cross the biggest hypocrite of all, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig.

(It was Selig, after all, who looked the other way during baseball’s Steroid Era, raking in billions while hallowed records fell, but feigned outrage when Barry Bonds broke the Big One — Hank Aaron’s home run record.  But hey, under Selig’s disgraceful reign, baseball finally —FINALLY — got around to outlawing steroids —in 2005, thirty-two years after the Olympics! Welcome to the party, Bud!)

Just look at Rangers’ general manager Jon Daniels’ quote, as reported by the Associated Press, when asked if he anticipated any backlash from other clubs:

“I’d guess they’ll be some unnamed sources, but I don’t expect a lot of phone calls.”

Or another  “unnamed” baseball executive, as reported in the New York Times: “The Rangers are acting as if they can go out and spend money….They’re attempting to try and spend money they don’t have for players.”

How typical.  And pathetic. 

Not only does Selig know he won’t be opposed, he counts on it.  So the arrogance only grows.

Need proof?  Consider the following:

The Rangers filed for Chapter 11 protection in May, intending to pay creditors $75 million.  They would then sell the team to an investor group led by Hall of Fame pitcher and team President Nolan Ryan.  But after creditors’ objected to that plan, the Rangers agreed to an auction.

Here’s the part that defies comprehension:

According to the AP, the team’s auction proposal specified that “Major League Baseball would decide who was eligible to bid and set strict guidelines, including a $1.5 million deposit and an opening bid of more than $500 million. The league could have rejected the highest bidder and selected the runner-up instead.”

The motion also included paying a $15 million ‘break-up’ fee to the Ryan group if it was not chosen as the buyer.”

Disgusting as the thought is, Nolan Ryan being in bed with Bud Selig clearly has its advantages: bid on a Major League Baseball team, and if you’re not successful, you receive a $15 million payment anyway.

One could say that such a consolation prize smacks of insider-trading corruption.

Thankfully, though in no way due to owners, that auction plan is in limbo.  For now.

Bankruptcy experts think the MLB bidding suggestions were a “clever maneuver” to push the sale toward Ryan’s group. 

But let’s call a spade a spade. It’s business as usual.  And because it continues unchecked, all of baseball suffers.

Do we really think it’s a good idea to have a 2010 Texas Rangers’ World Series Championship blemished with an “asterisk” next to it?  That’s a definite possibility.

Asterisks in the baseball record books — delineating that a particular feat was flawed — are becoming commonplace. How many more will it take before the whole sport implodes?

For once, Baseball’s owners would be wise to come in from the cheap seats and step up to the plate.

The integrity — what’s left of it — of America’s favorite pastime depends on it.

Chris Freind is an independent columnist and investigative reporter who operates his own news bureau, www.FreindlyFireZone.com

Readers of his column, “Freindly Fire,” hail from six continents, thirty countries and all fifty states. His work has been referenced in numerous publications including The Wall Street Journal, National Review Online, foreign newspapers, and in Dick Morris’ recent bestseller “Catastrophe.”

Freind also serves as a weekly guest commentator on the Philadelphia-area talk radio show, Political Talk (WCHE 1520), and makes frequent television and other radio appearances.  He can be reached at CF@FreindlyFireZone.com

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The cries are getting louder.                                   

Despite their sweep of the Reds before the All Star break, the Phillies are still in third place, 4 1/2 games behind the Braves, with the trade of Cliff Lee last year looking more dubious by the day.

The criticism of that decision continues to grow.

After all, Lee went 4-0 with a 1.56 ERA in five postseason games last fall, including winning two against the Yankees in the World Series.  He was also a major reason the Phils were playing October baseball at all. 

After the season, fans salivated at the prospect of having Lee and Roy Halladay as the team’s top two starters, an unbeatable combination that all but guaranteed another deep playoff run.

But it was not to be.  Instead, Lee went to Seattle. 

And last week, the big news was that he was traded to the first place Texas Rangers, bolstering a team that always seems to fade in the second half of the season.  Now, they’re a legitimate threat to go all the way.

There’s only one problem.  That was a trade that should never have happened. 

The fact that it did is a direct affront to every Major League team owner, every player and every fan.

All except the Texas Rangers, that is.

Why?

Because the Rangers are in bankruptcy.

So instead of getting their financial house in order and doing the right thing — paying the people to whom they owe money —, Texas just pulled out the most improbable victory of the season.

But unlike most games, when there is one winner and one loser, the Rangers’ achievement came at the expense of the other 29 teams.

*****

How did a team in bankruptcy hit this home run?

That bastion of corruption, Major League baseball, came in as the relief pitcher.

Last year, it loaned the Rangers $18.5 million. That wasn’t enough, however, as the company of the team owner defaulted on its $525 million debt.  So MLB came through again in May with another $21.5 million.

So let’s get this straight.

A team that can’t pay its bills or meet payroll receives a loan from the League — whose money comes from the teams themselves, directly and indirectly — and then uses that money to acquire arguably the best pitcher in the game.

Hmmm.  Something with that picture just doesn’t seem right.

The result is similar to what happens when the U.S. government subsidizes companies, such as the GM bailout, in that it victimizes those who have done nothing wrong.  In effect, companies like Honda are punished for their efficient operations, fiscal responsibility and turning a profit. Why should they now have to compete against the unlimited resources of the United States government?

But here’s the difference. GM still makes a vastly inferior product, so Honda will continue to rule the day, although its road to success will be substantially hampered.

Not the case with the Rangers.  The “product” they acquired — with OTM (Other Teams’ Money) — happens to be superior to virtually all others on the market. And that will lead to a tougher road for a number of other teams.

How many millions in additional revenue is a playoff appearance worth to a given team?  Win the League Pennant and it’s even more.  Throw in a World Series showing, let alone a Championship, and the number skyrockets.

So if the Los Angeles Angels, second in the division behind Texas, lose out on a Division Title because of Lee’s prowess, or if, say, Detroit misses the Wildcard slot for the same reason, that’s millions down the drain because of what amounts to an illegitimate trade.

Competitors have given the Rangers the rope — in this case money — to hang the rest of the League.

And should we even mention the riot potential in Philadelphia if the Phils meet Texas in the World Series, only to lose Game 7 to Cliff Lee?

*****

Perhaps the most disturbing, but least surprising, aspect of this debacle is the lack of on-the-record displeasure from the other baseball teams.

Unfortunately, too many business “leaders” in this country, if that’s what they can be called, exhibit more cowardice than guts. And since baseball is a business, team owners, presidents and general managers are no exception.

Two things are certain:

1)  Most, if not all, of the other owners are furious that the Lee trade was permitted to occur, especially those vying for playoff spots.

2)  You will not see any of them publicly voice their opinion — with attribution —on the matter.

Oh, we’ll see anonymous quotes from owners and other executives deriding the decision, but none will dare cross the biggest hypocrite of all, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig.

(It was Selig, after all, who looked the other way during baseball’s Steroid Era, raking in billions while hallowed records fell, but feigned outrage when Barry Bonds broke the Big One — Hank Aaron’s home run record.  But hey, under Selig’s disgraceful reign, baseball finally —FINALLY — got around to outlawing steroids —in 2005, thirty-two years after the Olympics! Welcome to the party, Bud!)

Just look at Rangers’ general manager Jon Daniels’ quote, as reported by the Associated Press, when asked if he anticipated any backlash from other clubs:

“I’d guess they’ll be some unnamed sources, but I don’t expect a lot of phone calls.”

Or another  “unnamed” baseball executive, as reported in the New York Times: “The Rangers are acting as if they can go out and spend money….They’re attempting to try and spend money they don’t have for players.”

How typical.  And pathetic. 

Not only does Selig know he won’t be opposed, he counts on it.  So the arrogance only grows.

Need proof?  Consider the following:

The Rangers filed for Chapter 11 protection in May, intending to pay creditors $75 million.  They would then sell the team to an investor group led by Hall of Fame pitcher and team President Nolan Ryan.  But after creditors’ objected to that plan, the Rangers agreed to an auction.

Here’s the part that defies comprehension:

According to the AP, the team’s auction proposal specified that “Major League Baseball would decide who was eligible to bid and set strict guidelines, including a $1.5 million deposit and an opening bid of more than $500 million. The league could have rejected the highest bidder and selected the runner-up instead.”

The motion also included paying a $15 million ‘break-up’ fee to the Ryan group if it was not chosen as the buyer.”

Disgusting as the thought is, Nolan Ryan being in bed with Bud Selig clearly has its advantages: bid on a Major League Baseball team, and if you’re not successful, you receive a $15 million payment anyway.

One could say that such a consolation prize smacks of insider-trading corruption.

Thankfully, though in no way due to owners, that auction plan is in limbo.  For now.

Bankruptcy experts think the MLB bidding suggestions were a “clever maneuver” to push the sale toward Ryan’s group. 

But let’s call a spade a spade. It’s business as usual.  And because it continues unchecked, all of baseball suffers.

Do we really think it’s a good idea to have a 2010 Texas Rangers’ World Series Championship blemished with an “asterisk” next to it?  That’s a definite possibility.

Asterisks in the baseball record books — delineating that a particular feat was flawed — are becoming commonplace. How many more will it take before the whole sport implodes?

For once, Baseball’s owners would be wise to come in from the cheap seats and step up to the plate.

The integrity — what’s left of it — of America’s favorite pastime depends on it.

Chris Freind is an independent columnist and investigative reporter who operates his own news bureau, www.FreindlyFireZone.com

Readers of his column, “Freindly Fire,” hail from six continents, thirty countries and all fifty states. His work has been referenced in numerous publications including The Wall Street Journal, National Review Online, foreign newspapers, and in Dick Morris’ recent bestseller “Catastrophe.”

Freind also serves as a weekly guest commentator on the Philadelphia-area talk radio show, Political Talk (WCHE 1520), and makes frequent television and other radio appearances.  He can be reached at CF@FreindlyFireZone.com

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If this were the Best of the Web, this story would probably be filed under, “Bottom Stories of the Day”….

Nutter announces no library cuts

Good news for the Free Library of Philadelphia: Branch schedules will not be reduced from five days to four, and more than 50 jobs will not be eliminated.

Mayor Nutter today axed his earlier proposal to cut the library budget by $2.5 million.

The surprise restoration of funds was one of many changes in the fiscal 2011 budget and five-year plan that the administration submitted a few hours ago to the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority, the state agency that monitors city spending.

This is nothing short of excellent news for this guy:

But bad news for these guys:

But the library’s good news is accompanied by bad news for other city departments. Among those seeing new budget reductions are the Police Department ($6.3 million); Prisons ($1 million); Department of Human Services ($1.8 million); Community College of Philadelphia ($1 million); the Philadelphia Cultural Fund ($1.1 million).

At least Philly has their priorities straight. If you are going to cut the police budget, it only makes sense to cut the prison budget as well.

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I know people were praying for rain during the recent heat wave, but I don’t think they wanted it all to come at once. Overbrook’s flooded, and the public transportation system is being shut down in some places. They’re using shuttle buses to help people when the light rail system is flooded, but what if the shuttle buses get stuck?

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Just got an email to this link from Obama’s goon squad:

Voter Registration in Bloomfield (Raise Your Vote: Voter Registration Event)
We’ll host Voter Registration on Saturday, July 17th in front of the Crazy Mocha in Bloomfield, located at:

4525 Liberty Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15224

From 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m.

I decided to répondez s’il vous plaît with the following:

Will you attend: No, I will not attend.
How many attendees total: (incl. yourself) 0
Add a comment: (optional)

Sorry, can’t make it. I’ll be busy working this weekend, paying my taxes which fund “community organizers” who are working to destroy my way of life. I’m sure, however, that you’ll be able to gather plenty of people who lack the ambition to find employment at your event, however, and you can all bow down and worship the great Obama, with all his empty promises.

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This must be the liberal meme – the New Black Panther Party is laughable! They definitely aren’t a threat to anyone’s rights or safety. Wow, are these people hypocrites. If Samir Shabazz was KKK the PG would be flipping out.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ain’t ‘fraid no Panthers:

Two members of the New Black Panther Party stood outside a North Philly polling place on Election Day 2008 in paramilitary garb. One of the two brandished a billy club looking vaguely menacing, but mostly silly.

The men stood outside the predominantly black polling center for a short time before cops sent them on their way. One of the men is alleged to have said something insulting about white people. Neither was arrested.

On the basis of a silly nonevent by two nobodies, the right wing has invented an outrageous conspiracy theory about the Justice Department’s alleged disregard for the voting rights of white people.

Something else which is probably silly to the PG – Hillary Clinton supporters claiming that Barack Obama stole the 2008 Democratic primary election:

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Ellis Henican and Kirsten Powers aren’t concerned about Samir Shabazz’s racial hatred and voter intimidation tactics:

I especially like Powers’ argument that the Obama administration shouldn’t go after the Black Panthers for voter intimidation because the Bush adminstration didn’t go after enough people for the same thing. What?

Then she showed a videotape of Klansmen holding clubs standing outside a polling place. Klansmen who Bush refused to prosecute. Or, not.

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