Month: January 2013

The sequester

WASHINGTON POST Column: …The consequences would be widespread. The Pentagon would have to cut spending 8.8 percent, estimates Todd Harrison of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a think tank specializing in defense issues. Among civilian workers, there would almost certainly be furloughs. Procurement contracts would have to be rewritten to reduce purchases;

Corbett son-in-law under federal investigation

PHILLY.COM:   The Philadelphia Police department confirmed that a narcotics officer was taken off the street and placed on administrative leave Thursday, following the results of an FBI and Internal Affairs investigation. The department said it would not identify the officer because he had not been arrested or formally charged… [Gerold] Gibson was targeted specifically by […]

Chuck Hagel, John McCain Clash Over Iraq Surge

HUFFINGTON POST:  …“Will you please answer the question?” McCain said. “Were you correct or incorrect when you said that the surge would be the ‘most dangerous foreign policy blunder in this country since Vietnam.’ Were you correct or incorrect, yes or no?” Hagel added that his comment about the “most dangerous foreign policy blunder” was […]

Why monetary policy does not restore prosperity on its own

CONTRIBUTOR:  Tell me again when the economy will recover.  Why should businesses invest when the Fed, pumping 85 billion a month, can do all the work for the foreseeable future?  EDITOR: Monetary and fiscal policies are two different things.   Through its monetary policy, the  Federal Reserve simply makes funds available to banks at low costs.   […]

People can throw out a lawmaker anytime they want

READING EAGLE Editorial:  The Issue: Sen. Pat Toomey and others sponsor a constitutional amendment to limit the terms of members of Congress… But as we have said many times, term limits, regardless of length or composition, are a poor substitute for a well-informed electorate, which has the opportunity to limit the term of any elected […]

A Senseless Death

Several years ago, I was a public school teacher in central Harlem, New York City. There was one difference between these kids and the ones from my suburban childhood. My students, like Hadiya, lived in a war zone. Most lived in the projects of New York City. Each day they passed a gauntlet of thugs and drug dealers.

First, legalize medicinal use of pot

In a Letter to the Intelligencer Journal / New Era editor, Mr. Ron Simmons of Ephrata gave some very wise advice: “I understand two Franklin & Marshall staffers did a survey (2010) in which 80 percent of Pennsylvanians favor the legalization of pot for medicinal use. There have been so many documented positive effects reported […]

Feds move to indict Traffic Court judges

PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER:  A FEDERAL investigation into ticket-fixing as political favors in Philadelphia Traffic Court is expected to culminate Thursday morning with sweeping indictments of most of the current judges and some retired judges… One Traffic Court judge expected to be charged is already under indictment for a separate accusation. Robert Mulgrew was indicted by a […]