Midnight Blue Says

In the most delicate and democratic way:

“The kind of allegations that we are talking about, and they are allegations, but they are serious allegations, they must be addressed, the management of PHA the board of PHA must address these issues, hopefully they are conducting some level of investigation but there must be zero tolerance for that kind of alleged activity.”

Meanwhile, 3 sexual harassment claims against Carl Green have been settled financially, and a fourth suit costing PHA insurance $250,000 was settled on Friday. Yep, nothing to see here folks, just keep moving along.

This is way too much baggage for the city administration to sweep under the rug. I cannot see Green holding on to this $306,000/yr position for very long, and wonder if the job comes with courtesy parking in Philly?

And the hits just keep coming from Philly, the city that loves to tax bloggers. Now the city provides free parking for the political elite or politically blessed in this fair city. Miriam Hill of the Inquirer reports:

When Mayor Nutter took office, he reduced the number of free parking spaces awarded to city employees and to politically connected local VIPs.

But a lucky few got to keep their free spots, even though they don’t work for the city.

Michael Meehan, general counsel for the Republican City Committee, still parks for free in the 1500 block of Market Street.

He did not return a call seeking comment.

Democratic City Committee Chairman and U.S. Rep. Bob Brady nabbed a space, as did Elmer Brun, Charles Bernard, and Lou Farinella, who also work for the local party as aides to Brady.

Through a representative, they also declined comment.

This translates into a savings on average of $3500 to $4500 a year in parking fees the rest of us are required to pay out. I wonder if they are also exempt from business license fees as well? This is another example of political connections benefiting a select few while the majority foots their expense. Again, I remind my local readers, all 17 members of city council are up for reelection next year. To quote Madam Speaker – “It’s time to drain the swamp”.

Gotta love Philly – a midnight blue Democrat city that never found a tax it would not implement. So, if you blog in Philly and partake in advertising, Philadelphia department of revenue wants their cut even if you make no money on this endeavor.

Pay up:

Even though small-time bloggers aren’t exactly raking in the dough, the city requires privilege licenses for any business engaged in any “activity for profit,” says tax attorney Michael Mandale of Center City law firm Mandale Kaufmann. This applies “whether or not they earned a profit during the preceding year,” he adds.

So even if your blog collects a handful of hits a day, as long as there’s the potential for it to be lucrative — and, as Mandale points out, most hosting sites set aside space for bloggers to sell advertising — the city thinks you should cut it a check.

Note, I don’t pursue advertising on this blog and never will. Although, I wonder how this applies to bloggers that accept G-Pal or PayPal donations?

UPDATE: Now would be a good time to remind my local readers that all 17 members of Philadelphia City Council are up for reelection next year. Change begins locally and we surely can find 17 more qualified individuals to run and replace the current council.

Ed Morrissey weighs in on this story, he thinks its crass but legit for the city to demand a license fee. I can’t wait till the city starts demanding a business license for children’s lemonade stands and sundry yard sales that can be found in practically every neighborhood. Like the Cordoba mosque, this is a really bad idea.

Blonde Sagacity looks at the finer point of taxing ‘potential profit’.

First In labels Philly as tax capitol of the world!!!

PaWatercooler has several thoughts on this issue.

Aaron Proctor: Philly’s new blogger tax gouges free speech and free thought

Thanks to all of you who have emailed and offered assistance in changing my blog address. Since I don’t earn any income from this blog via advertising or a tip jar,  I’ve nothing to report on my tax form.  Actually, I’m stunned by the absolute absurdity of this issue.

Andrew Breitbart

This afternoon I attended the Uni-Tea Rally at Independence Mall. In the heart of a midnightblue-democrat city, I am constantly amazed by the turnout of these rallies. I’ve witnessed numerous anti war rallies at the same location, even at the height of anti war protests in 2006-2007, their numbers never rose above anemic with a distinct lack of pigment in their ranks.

Read the rest of this entry »

As a freshman Republican Committeewoman, I’ve had time to more closely observe the behavior of local Philly politics.  What I’ve found is a quagmire with two parties wrangling for the soul of Philadelphia.

Read the rest of this entry »

Saturday, July 31st – mark your calendar to attend this spectacular, star studded Tea Party event!

Uni-TEA is coming to Independence Mall on July 31st – Noon till 3pm.  This is a great opportunity learn how an out of control government is taking away your jobs, money and future.

Uni-TEA has a fabulous line up of speakers that will inform and inspire you. I’m am so pleased to tell you that Andrew Breitbart will be among the speakers at this event.  There will be rocking music, of course. Tea Parties seem to attract talented musicians – I can’t wait to hear their sets.  Good conversation, good music, good people – what more could you want from a grassroot Tea Party event?

You betcha I will be covering this event for my readers. Stay tuned, my friends!

Don’t forget to clear you schedule for Saturday, July 31st – Noon till 3PM @ Independence Mall, Philadelphia

Race based crime?

LOS ANGELES — The U.S. Department of Justice will conduct an independent review of the Johannes Mehserle case in order to determine whether or not the shooting merits federal prosecution, according the department.

(….)

“The Civil Rights Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and the FBI have an open investigation into the fatal shooting and, at the conclusion of the state’s prosecution, will conduct an independent review of the facts and circumstances to determine whether the evidence warrants federal prosecution.”

In this case, Mehserle, a BART police officer, was convicted of second degree manslaughter of theblack victim.  He has been tried and sentenced for his crime, it is interesting that the department of Civil Rights wants to review the particular case, in light of the Black Panther dismissal .

I will speculate that this particular story will make the front page of the Philadelphia Inquirer tomorrow.

THANK YOU!!!

Navy SEAL and SWCC teams assist in rescuing passengers from the sunken Duck boat:

Members of Special Boat Team 20 had been preparing for the ceremony when they heard the distress call.

“We heard a distress call on our mari-brand radio, quickly fired up our boat, got under way to respond, took us approximately 5 minutes,” Senior Chief Charles Weaver of the U.S. Navy said. With the Mark V’s support vessel, the Zodiak, in the water, a crew of 5 Navy rescuers spotted several accident victims. “They assisted 3 victims in the water and I cross-decked one of my personnel over to a police boat to assist extracting a 4th person from the water,” Weaver said

I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to spend time the SWCC team in action in 2008 when they arrived in Philly’s Schuylkill Banks Park for a memorial dedication to fallen SEAL’s.

In this video, the SWCC team demonstrates how quickly a Zodiac is docked on to the Mark V:

A collection of photos and video from the event at Schuylkill Bank Park:

Yesterday, a former prosecutor for the Department of Justice testified to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights pursuant to the New Black Panther Party voter intimidation dismissal. The allegations put forth by J. Christian Adams point to the case being dismissed due to the skin color of the defendants. In his post on Pajamas Media, J. Christian Adams, makes a clear point about equality in enforcement of our laws:

The best thing that could happen from the ugly New Black Panthers dismissal and public revelation of the truth is for the Department to change course. The outrage I have heard in hundreds of emails and in calls from around the nation tell me Americans value equal enforcement of the law as much as they cherish the right to vote without men with weapons shouting racial slurs at them. Equality and the right to vote are sacred partners.

If these hearings prompt the Department to reconsider the institutional hostility to equal enforcement of voting laws, then it will be a great day for America. We will all be able to exhale and declare: “Thank goodness they finally followed the law.” If it took attention for them to change course, we can all agree the attention was good.

Not surprisingly, the Philadelphia Inquirer makes no mention of this blockbuster of a story on today’s (7/7/10) front page (see photo below). Then again, this paper endorsed candidate Obama, the journalists employed at the Inq (save one) do not have the courage to speak truth to power when the politician has a ‘D’ dangling after their name. Oh, note that there is no mention of the world’s worst ecological disaster on the front page as well. How far will the Inquirer and its journalist compromise their credibility in order to carry water for Obama and his administration?

Horrifying:

J. Christian Adams, testifying Tuesday before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, said that “over and over and over again,” the department showed “hostility” toward those cases. He described the Black Panther case as one example of that — he defended the legitimacy of the suit and said his “blood boiled” when he heard a Justice official claim the case wasn’t solid.