The Roundup November 1
Ethan @ Keystone Conservative has started doing semi-regular Pa blogger round up posts.
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Cold Warriors to Obama: GROW A SET!! July 21
And Palin had no foreign policy experience, right? (To good not to share at both blogs!)
Dissident heroes from the age of the Iron Curtain, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Lech Walesa, Vaclav Havel and 20 other Central and Eastern European intellectuals, policymakers and leaders have penned an open letter to President Obama on the perils facing US-NATO relations should he cave to the Russians — and they should know:
Despite the efforts and significant contribution of the new members, NATO today seems weaker than when we joined. In many of our countries it is perceived as less and less relevant – and we feel it. Although we are full members, people question whether NATO would be willing and able to come to our defense in some future crises.
…
Many in the region are looking with hope to the Obama Administration to restore the Atlantic relationship as a moral compass for their domestic as well as foreign policies. A strong commitment to common liberal democratic values is essential to our countries. We know from our own historical experience the difference between when the United States stood up for its liberal democratic values and when it did not. Our region suffered when the United States succumbed to “realism” at Yalta. And it benefited when the United States used its power to fight for principle. That was critical during the Cold War and in opening the doors of NATO. Had a “realist” view prevailed in the early 1990s, we would not be in NATO today and the idea of a Europe whole, free, and at peace would be a distant dream.
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Manny, Moe and Jack get a Bonus March 25
The fervor over the AIG bonuses has pushed the Congress to become a lynch mob. They have whipped the media and the American people into a frenzy in an effort to pass legislation that may be popular to punish those AIG executives, but in reality is unconstitutional and just plain wrong.
I think we first need to understand what exactly these bonuses are, and that is not as easy as it may sound. The bonuses are retention bonuses, not performance bonuses. A retention bonus is a bonus paid to keep an employee with the company for some reason or another. A short example of this is, Manny, Moe, and Jack are all working for a company. Jack is the President and it was his business plan that started the company. He hires Manny to overlook production, and Moe to over see distribution. Manny and Moe are very good at their jobs, but are only focused on their job and do not know the other jobs, Jack doesn’t know jack about production or distribution, he only knows the administrative part of the business.
Now Jack sees Manny and Moe are getting ready to call it quits, so he offers them a cash bonus to stay for one year, giving Jack to either train someone to replace them or learn their job himself. This is what is known as a retention bonus. It keeps good employees in their job rather than lose them to other companies with exclusive knowledge of their specific jobs.
I like many others am against the US Government bailing out any private company, and I think executives profiting while a company are failing is frankly unconscionable, we still have an obligation to honor contracts. I think it is no different than the auto workers union and their collective bargaining agreement with the bailouts of the auto industry. Until the collective bargaining agreement runs out the auto companies have a legal obligation to honor them. After they run out they should decrease pay and benefits to a level that is sustainable to the company. But in both situations the government has no place telling AIG or any other company to not honor its contracts.
Not only are there contracts but in the legislation past last year, this type of bonus was allowed. So now you have a Law passed by congress, and contracts entered into by businesses. Now congress has the public up in arms, creating a lynch mob of the general public. Our government has taken this one step further, attempt to place an excessive tax on these bonuses.
Again I will quote our US Constitution
Article 1 Section 9 No bill of attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.
A bill passed by law, contracts entered into by companies and employees, and now the US Constitution. The elected officials in Washington, Republican and Democrats, have over the past few months really forgotten that they have rules they need to operate by, while preaching to Wall Street about how they have gone awry and become greedy, Washington has done the same. It does not matter if you agree with these bonuses or not, the US Constitution was written to protect us from an over zealous government. You may this one time wish to allow this, but if we the people stand for it just this once, we are telling our government that as long as they get enough people angry with a given situation, it is ok to violate the constitution. Every time we as a people allow it, we give them more and more power to shred the very fiber of our society.
Demand more from our elected officials.
Michael Zellner Jr.
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New look for BNN January 22
Red November Initiative October 13
Longtime SePa blogger TrekMedic is kicking off another round of the Red November Initiative, this time for 2008.
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The Real Racists in the“Jena Six”? Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson September 22
The Real Racists in the“Jena Six”? Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson
Man, it’s about time. A confluence of events is shaping up that promises to expose America as the racist nation that it is.
First, three white Duke lacrosse players had rape charges dropped against them by a black stripper, who, even though she was “exposed” as a liar and racist, had a great imagination. Despite the best efforts of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, justice was clearly not served. Can you say “Tawana Brawley”?
And what of the black Rutgers basketball player who sued Don Imus because her feelings were hurt? No doubt Imus’ joke inflicted immeasurable pain and severe emotional damage to this new-found celebrity, our “wounded hero”.
Then we have OJ, who was just arrested (again) only because he is a famous black man. Pay no attention to the armed robbery charge or the various other offenses police believe he committed. Since the White Man failed in his attempt to frame OJ for murder in 1994 (a clearly racist action—come on, was there any evidence in that case?), he is seeking payback. Successful black athletes simply cannot be allowed to freely walk the streets of America.
Speaking of football players, we have Philadelphia Eagles’ quarterback Donovan McNabb’s recent statement that black quarterbacks face more pressure, scrutiny and criticism than their white counterparts. And he should know, because, well….. he said so. He can’t back up his position with any facts, but he’s the clairvoyant Donovan McNabb. He knows what Carson Palmer and Peyton Manning face in their lily white press conferences—-and that they don’t have to deal with the “racism” he does. In all fairness to the prima donna, maybe it’s “Whitey keeping him down” that’s makes the turf his favorite receiver.
And lastly, we have the “Free the Jena Six” movement underway in Louisiana. Big Al is on scene, of course, but that’s probably because of the all-you-can-eat Cajun buffet. The issue at hand is the arrest of six black students who nearly beat a white student to death. Why? Apparently in retribution for nooses hung from a tree on school property.
Even though the beating took place three months after the tree incident.
The simple facts of this case? A tree at the school was used as a meeting place for white students. The morning after black students gathered under the tree, nooses were hung. No charges were filed against those who hung the nooses because the prosecutor couldn’t find a Louisiana law under which to charge them. Hanging nooses is incredibly stupid and racist, and should be condemned, but it was not illegal.
After the beating took place, the “Jena Six” were arrested and charged with attempted murder. Only one has been tried so far, and he was found guilty of a lesser offense (aggravated second-degree battery). His conviction was overturned on the grounds that he should have been tried as a juvenile because he was sixteen. The prosecutor, Reed Walters, explained that five out of the six would in fact be charged as juveniles, but since Mychal Bell had a prior criminal record, he was tried as an adult.
That’s it, folks.
There is no smoking gun, no racism. And this is unequivocally not “the most blatant example of disparity in the justice system” that Al Sharpton claims he has ever seen.
Does anyone but the racist and ignorant really believe anything this man says? And why does the media continually give him a national platform? He does nothing but invoke racism where it doesn’t apply, inciting hatred and dividing our nation in the process.
So now we have large protest rallies, labeled as a continuation of the 1960’s Civil Rights movement. We have marchers being bussed into Jena from around the country, and numerous protest marches in other cities.
That is, far and away, one of the worst analogies ever made. The Civil Rights movement had justification and merit. It was about freedom and equality. The Jena case isn’t. Period.
In what appears to be a contest to show which self-important grandstander is most out-of-touch, the CEO of the NAACP stated: “People are saying, ‘That’s enough, and we’re not taking it anymore.”
“Taking what”, exactly? Does he believe that people—including angry blacks— should not be held accountable for their actions? Is it okay to assault or kill a person because you don’t like what someone of his same color did? It seems that any action by white authorities to black people is not just suspect, but racist and therefore has no merit. And the people who feel like this will never let facts stand in the way. Here’s an example: when several whites asked black demonstrators if they knew Mychal Bell had a criminal record, they blamed Jena High School administrators for mishandling school incidents. Sure, blame it on the school. Blame it on the police and prosecutor, blame it on the town. In fact, just blame everything and everyone in this country—except the ones actually doing the crimes. After all, since America engaged in slavery two centuries ago, that gives everyone of “color” free reign to do whatever they like, including invoking racism as easily as getting out of bed.
The saddest part of this? The people of Jena are too scared to go on record and chastise criminal behavior—regardless of skin color. They worry that if they take on the real racists—Sharpton and Jackson—they will be labeled as “bigots and racists”. Guess what? They already are.
In a vacuum, the loudest voice wins. And with a biased and lazy media, this victory goes to the real racists.
Will the real patriots of Jena, Louisiana please stand up? The world is watching.
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Donovan McNabb: Still Making Excuses! September 22
If Donovan McNabb spent half as much time playing football as he does making excuses, the Eagles would probably have a Super Bowl victory.
Instead, he is busy doing what he does best, namely playing the race card, being a prima donna, and telling anyone who will listen, ad nauseum, that he is a “leader”, and the Philadelphia Eagles are his team.
Newsflash: when someone is a true leader, he never has to tell you.
The latest pontificating by McNabb came on an HBO show where McNabb claims that there is more pressure on black NFL quarterbacks. “There’s not that many African-American quarterbacks, so we have to do a little bit extra,” McNabb says.. “Because the percentage of us playing this position, which people didn’t want us to play … is low, so we do a little extra.”
Hey, Donovan, is that “little extra” throwing up in the huddle—which you denied—during the Super Bowl? Or coming up small in all the big games? Or was it your pathetic handling of the Terrell Owens saga, a situation that, with a little common sense, could have been easily diffused?
But Donovan McNabb talking about race? I thought that was taboo. Just look at McNabb’s own words: “If you talk about my play, that’s one thing. When you talk about my race, now we’ve got problems.”
So it’s not okay for Rush Limbaugh to state that black quarterbacks got more than their fair share of attention, but it’s acceptable for McNabb to complain about his perceived racial bias?
What about Donovan’s infamous—and incomprehensible— remark that (former Eagle receiver) Terrell Owen’s criticism of him amounted to “black-on-black” crime?
His consistency on this subject is becoming like his ball-playing.
So why the recent diatribe? Because only five of thirty-two NFL teams have black starting quarterbacks (15.6%). Of course, that number would be higher (19%) if not for former Atlanta Falcons quarterback, Michael “Dog-Killer” Vick.
Did it ever dawn on McNabb that blacks make up 13% of the population? Where’s the racism?
There is none. Sure, you will always have the extreme element that brings race into everything, but those people are the fringe lunatics who are marginalized anyway. Is there really a bias against black quarterbacks in the media? Of course not. And what about the fans, especially in a sports-crazed town like Philly?
You could be a communist vegan transvestite quarterback, but if you always play hard, win the big games and give the city a Championship Parade, they don’t care what color you are. The only color Philadelphians care about is Eagles Green.
Donovan McNabb arguably has the most talent of any NFL quarterback—no one has ever questioned that. While he and the Eagles have enjoyed great success, both in regular seasons and the playoffs, they have not won the Big Game. For a city that has not experienced a championship in any major sport for almost three decades, “almost” simply isn’t good enough. The fact that McNabb cannot understand this, and instead equates boos and criticism to his skin color, shows just how far out of touch he really is.
How ’bout those Phils?
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Philadelphia’s Warped Priorities August 21
City Hall’s Priorities Are Warped
Kudos to Mayor Street! After eight very, very long years, his legacy is now complete.
Faced with the highest murder rate in the nation—a fact not lost on the national news bureaus— the Mayor’s efforts have led to….the highest poverty rate in America. Along with a dysfunctional school system, Center City continues to be plagued with a chronic homeless population, one of the nation’s dirtiest cities, and a Convention Center whose unions scare away more business than can be generated.
And how will the Mayor be remembered? As the one who stood in line, for hours, for the chance at buying one of the first iPhones. In all fairness, fighting a crisis crime wave takes a back seat to getting a new toy, and the Mayor is a self described gadget-junkie.
His response to the near-universal outrage? “This is not a whole lot different then if I were doing some neighborhood activity and not in City Hall. I’m in touch then and I’m in touch now.”
He sure is.
In fact, another legacy idea that was recently announced was the decision to raise parking meter rates in Center City. By a mere 100%.
And that’s not all. The meters’ hours of operation have also increased, with motorists now having to worry about paying until10:00 at night (up from 6:30 in many places).
How’s that for irony?
Instead of running the gauntlet of criminals just once at the end of an evening, you will be forced to do it several times or face huge parking fines. Quite frankly, I’m surprised this hasn’t become a Reality TV show yet. Just imagine the plot lines—and the ratings! Viewers could vote as to which contestant they think isn’t going to make it back to the pub alive. You would have Philadelphians (and tourists) faced with rape, robbery, and, in true Hollywood fashion, the very real possibility of getting blown away—over a disputed parking space!
What is absolutely priceless in this debacle is the comment made by Linda Miller, Senior Director of Facilities and Public Affairs at the Philadelphia Parking Authority.
When asked about the rate increases, she said, “We’ve actually been looking at this for over a year”.
Just a year? Truly a model for efficiency over at the PPA!
She then tried to justify the move by stating that businesses would actually be helped by the new regulations, because there would be more “turnover”. Sure, businesses are going to generate more revenue because the meter rates went up.
Of course, what goes unanswered is how you can have more turnover if you’ve just given people one more reason to avoid downtown?
Since the City felt no need to consult the business community before their move, I am not sure how they came up with the turnover rationalization. I’m probably going out on a limb here, but if you take a poll of Center City business owners, you could probably count on one hand how many favor the new regulations.
But here’s the most classic line of all: “On any given day, you can be downtown, and it’s New York almost”.
Yeah. Almost.
Earth to Linda: “Have we met”?
It’s funny. Just the other day I was in New York, and as much as I tried to notice the resemblance between the two cities, the similarity escaped me.
New York has Manhattan, we don’t. End of story.
Of course, there is one area where we do surpass the Big Apple.
Killings.
Welcome to Philadelphia.
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Rendell’s Budget Hypocrisy Knows No Bounds July 11
Pennsylvania Governor Rendell’s Budget Hypocrisy Knows No Bounds
Prepare for the hordes.
Governor Ed Rendell and a Commonwealth Court judge legislating from the bench have finally figured out a way to attract more people to Pennsylvania, thereby reversing our steady decline into oblivion.
They made liquor and gambling “essential”.
The decision to keep liquor stores open and casinos rolling was made during the recent government shutdown over a budget impasse. The Governor, in using his discretion over what government services were deemed “essential”, clearly illustrated his priorities. He thought it vastly more important to keep the citizens liquored up (actually, based on his performance, probably not a bad idea) than keeping state parks and museums open during summer peak season.
Interestingly, given the Governor’s penchant for wine and liquor, it’s too bad he didn’t put forth the same effort into trying to rescind the 18% “Johnstown Flood Temporary Tax” on all wine and liquor sold in Pennsylvania. After all, the state loses millions in revenue to out-of-state liquor stores because of such an astronomical “revenue enhancer”.
Although, in all fairness, it isn’t like the Johnstown Flood was 120 years ago. Just 118.
As far as the Commonwealth Court, Senior Judge Keith Quigley needs to be sent back to law school to learn what is, and what is not, within the proper realm of a judge. He absolutely overstepped his bounds by his decision to keep the casinos open, because, in his own words, it made “economic sense” to do so. One problem: his view on what makes economic sense is irrelevant….It’s not his call! He had but one simple role in this matter, namely to decide whether the furloughing of casino employees was illegal, which it clearly is not. It ’s a pity that the judge is either unaware or has ignored the system our Founding Fathers gave us, and an even greater pity that the Governor and the legislature are not challenging him for his abuse of power in usurping the responsibilities of both the executive and legislative branches. What the Governor, Senate and House do not understand is that if this blatant lack of judicial restraint is not immediately addressed, it sets precedent for the next time a judge feels like making his own laws. Civics 101— “checks and balances”. Governor Rendell and all 253 legislators need to review it.
If Quigley wants to legislate so badly, he should have the guts to run for state representative, not make cowardly decisions hiding behind his robe. Perhaps he just wanted to get boozed up and go gambling this week…
The major disagreements between the Governor and the legislature were…wait, I’m not sure. A quick check of the television news and statewide newspapers reveal…practically nothing. It seems that the Fourth Estate dropped the ball again, allocating extremely feeble coverage as to why we had a crisis, choosing instead to focus on the furloughs and “hardships” of all the public servants and, of course, giving us up to the minute developments on whether Pennsylvania’s casinos will remain open. Some conspiracy buffs will say the lack of in-depth media analysis was done to help the Governor by not publicizing the unpopular tax increases he was seeking, but sadly, the reality is much more basic. The media continues its plunge into mediocrity because, overall, it is lazy and incompetent.
Take the “furloughs”. The media much prefers to interview, for example, people at a closed DMV, rather than expose the calculated, purely political games the Governor played with his “pawns”. While Rendell rambled incoherently about some obscure “federal law”about essential and non-essential status, a law which no one can seem to find, where were the stories about the fact that the furloughs didn’t have to take place at all?
First things first. Pennsylvania has a constitutional requirement stating that it must have a balanced budget, meaning it can not operate in the red. This is a tremendously valuable law, and one which Washington sorely needs. With such a provision, if the budget is not passed by June 30, government workers will not get paid.
The solution is simple, although certainly not easy: all public servants should have been mandated to keep working. They would get full back pay, of course, once the new budget was in place, and the state would not shut down at all. OK, after the hoots and hollers, let’s take a look at history in this regard.
Flashback to 1977. There was a similar budget impasse, mainly over a proposed tax increase. Instead of lasting for a day, however, it went on until mid-August. Government workers, all of them, continued going to work, admirably fulfilling their roles as public servants. As a matter of fact, the Pennsylvania State Police had a lower rate of officers calling out “sick” during this time of work-with- no-pay than they did during regular operation. How’s that for dedication and professionalism?
Here’s the bottom line: The Government’s job is to stay open and assist people, period. It does not exist to “make money”—there is no such thing as “government money”, it’s the people’s money that is sent to Harrisburg, so government can “stay open and assist people”.
I don’t buy the argument that since state stores and casinos generate their own revenue, they should be allowed to stay open. So do state parks and museums that charge an entrance fee, but they were shut down. It is clear that certain government workers were victims of political one-upsmanship, being manipulated as tools of the Governor. It is a disgrace when the Chief Executive of the fifth largest state skins his employees’ feet, then dips them in salt just for the chance to pass more outrageous taxes. Is it any wonder why poll after poll shows the people’s disdain and disgust for their elected officials?
Notice I didn’t say elected “leaders”. Because in Harrisburg, that is a rare commodity indeed.
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