Philadelphia Daily Record

Vol. II No. 75 (235)

Keeping You Posted With The Politics Of Philadelphia

June 3, 2011

Philadelphia Daily Record

Medicare Man

VOWING to preserve Medicare as we know it, US Sen. Bob Casey greeted an elderly voter at Phila. Senior Center, Broad & South Streets, yesterday. See story page 3.

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The Philadelphia Public Record Calendar Jun. 3Fundraising Banquet to purchase Asian Service Bldg. at Ocean City Restaurant, 234 N. 9th St., 6:30 p.m. For info Chairman Mohan Parmer (215) 317-8262.

Jun. 3Southwest Coalition hosts Jazz Concert featuring Stickman Tony Trio at Kingsessing Rec. Center, 50th & Kingsessing Ave., 6-8:30 p.m. Cost $10 including light refreshments. For info Tom Henry (215) 901-5639.

Jun. 4Badges of Honor 5 K Run in Fairmount Park at 9 a.m. kicked off

by Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey, Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers, Prison Commissioner Louis Giorla and Mayor Michael Nutter.

Jun. 4Green Night Out for Cheri Honkala at Singapaore Chinese Restaurant.For info call 215-2437103.

Jun. 5thRep. Curtis Thomas at Stop Violence Rally and Show at 10 a.m. at intersetion of 12th Street and Cecil B. Moore Av. Police motorcade. Followed by Fashion show and other events from 3 to 7 p.m. at St. Paul’s Community Center, 1018 Wallace St. Jun. 10-12Annunciation BVM School Old Fashioned Family Carnival, 1150 Wharton St., rain or shine. All welcome.

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THE PHILADELPHIA DAILY RECORD

3 JUNE, 2011

Casey Tells Retirees He’ll Fight To Protect Medicare

MARC STIER of Health Care for Penna. Now congratulates Sen. Bob Casey for his stance against canceling federal obligation to cover Medicare expenses.

US Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, joined members of the retirement community and their representatives yesterday to discuss the implications of the current Republican budget proposal on Medicare.

“If Republicans have their way, traditional Medicare will no longer exist in 2022,” said the Senator. “The Republican ‘solution’ is providing our elderly with dramatically higher costs and less care. Current beneficiaries will suffer and the next generation will face retirement without Medicare and without the peace of 3 JUNE, 2011

mind it offers.”

In addition to members of the retirement community, the Senator was joined by Health Care For America Now and Save Social Security Coalitions, Penn ACTION, Action United, Alliance for Retired Americans and SEIU HealthcarePA. The event took place at the Philadelphia Senior Center in Philadelphia, PA. The retirees delivered over 100 letters to Casey opposing the Republican budget plan.

THE PHILADELPHIA DAILY RECORD

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Health Experts Advise Against Further Privatization Of Alcohol Sales National public-health experts are recommending against further privatization of retail alcohol sales based on evidence privatization would increase excessive alcohol consumption and associated health and social problems, the Keystone Research Center reports in a new policy brief.

The recommendation was made in an April statement from the Task Force on Community Preventive Services, an independent, volunteer body of public-health experts created in 1996 by the US Dept. of Health & Human Services.

“The Task Force statement is the most definitive statement on retail alcohol privatization issued to date

by US public-health researchers,” said Stephen Herzenberg, PhD, economist and executive director of the Keystone Research Center. “It is based on the best available evidence, drawn from research on ‘natural experiments’ with actual privatizations. The Task Force statement deserves close examination as Pennsylvania lawmakers consider a proposal to privatize State wine and spirits stores.”

mary evidence” by the Task Force in its evaluation.

The papers evaluated the effects of 21 instances of privatization or (in one case) re-monopolization of retail alcohol distribution. They included retail alcohol privatizations in seven US states, two Canadian provinces, and two European countries (Finland and Sweden).

Sixteen of the 21 privatization events studied examined the effects of privatization on per-capita consumption of alcoholic beverages that were not privatized as well as those that were privatized. After privatization, the Task Force found, consumption of privatized beverages increased “substantially” (the median increase was 48.2%). Meanwhile, consumption of non-privatized beverages increased very little (the median change was a fall of 2%).

The Task Force inferred based on “extensive evidence” that “when privatization results in substantial increases in alcohol consumption, there are at the same time substantial increases in excessive consumption.”

In the Task Force statement, researchers explained their recommendation against further privatization of alcohol sales in states with control of retail sales is “based on strong evidence that privatization results in increase per-capita alcohol consumption, a well-established proxy for excessive consumption.”

“The maintenance of government control of offpremise sale of alcoholic beverages is one of many effective strategies to prevent or reduce excessive consumption which is one of the leading causes of preventable death and disability,” the report concluded.

The Keystone Research Center policy brief provides an overview of the Task Force and its findings on alcohol privatization.

Dr. Herzenberg noted that writings by Dr. Antony Davies published by the Commonwealth Foundation and George Mason University’s Mercatus Center present a different view on alcohol privatization. That work, however, has not been published in any peerreferred scholarly journals and failed to meet the quality standards necessary for inclusion as primary or secondary evidence in the Task Force Report.

The Task Force periodically conducts rigorous “systematic reviews” of peer-refereed studies on a variety of issues, including “excessive alcohol consumption,” and makes recommendations based on the evidence it gathers.

Twelve research papers that examined the impact of actual cases of privatization were used as the “pri-

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The Keystone Research Center is a liberal think tank focusing on Pennsylvania policy issues.

THE PHILADELPHIA DAILY RECORD

3 JUNE, 2011

Patrick Murphy Raises $500,000 In Six Weeks For His Campaign Just six weeks after announcing his candidacy for Pennsylvania Attorney General, Patrick Murphy has raised $500,000 and secured major endorsements, including Philadelphia DA Seth Williams.

In addition, Murphy has earned the support of Former Dept. of Environmental Protection Secretary John Hanger and Former US Sen. Harris Wofford, as well as a number of State Representatives, Democratic Party leaders and labor organizations, such as the United Steelworkers.

“As long as I’ve known Patrick, he has been dedicated to the safety and security of the people of Pennsylvania, whether that be as a soldier or Congressman,” said Mike Russo, contract coordinator and Executive Board member of United Steelworkers Local 4889. “Working families have a friend in Patrick Murphy.

As our next Attorney General, he won’t be afraid to stand up to special interests that are exploiting everyday Pennsylvanians.

Patrick is a true champion for the middle class.”

A former Congressman and Iraq war veteran, Patrick has been overwhelmed by the support he has received since launching his campaign on Apr. 20.

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“This type of response just goes to show that Pennsylvania is hungry for leadership in Harrisburg. Working families have had enough of government protecting corporate and special interests at their expense,” Murphy said. “As Attorney General, I will stop at nothing to protect Pennsylvania families, something I have dedicated my entire life to doing. I will fight crime wherever it exists – on the street, in the corporate boardroom or in Harrisburg.”

“I’ve heard from so many great men and women throughout Pennsylvania during the past six weeks. I look forward to spending the next 18 months meeting the people who make our Commonwealth great and sharing my vision for the future of Pennsylvania,” Murphy said.

Other new endorsements of Murphy include State Reps.

Thaddeus Kirkland (DDelaware), Margo Davidson (DDelaware) and Michael O’Brien (D-Kensington); Carbon Co. Chair William O’Gurek, Jr. and Cumberland Co. Chair Gail McDermott; and United Steelworkers International Federation of Professional & Technical Engineers Local 3.

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Elfreth’s Alley Throws Open Its Doors This Weekend

Don’t forget this year Fete Day, The Elfreth’s Alley Association’s Annual Spring Fund Raiser & Open House, is being offered on both this evening, Jun. 3, 5-9 p.m., and the afternoon of Saturday, Jun. 4, 12-5 p.m. To coincide with Old City’s vibrant monthly art crawl, First Friday it is expanding Fete Day to include Friday evenings!

Bring the whole family on Saturday to see demonstrations of colonial era crafts including Windsor chair making, paper making, ice cream making, pottery, calligraphy, and spinning; hear a live fife-and-drum corps; and enjoy refreshments including hot dogs, pretzels, and ice cream. There will also be a special sale of children’s books.

On both dates, visitors will be able to tour a selection of the historic private homes on Elfreth’s Alley (Friday 6-8 p.m., Saturday 12-5 p.m.), visit our House Museum at 126 Elfreth’s Alley, enjoy refreshments, and meet Benjamin Franklin. The residents of Elfreth’s Alley generously open their homes to the public twice a year and Fete Day is the only time during the spring and summer when visitors have the opportunity to see inside these private homes.

Become a funsaver on www.phillyfunguide.com and get 50% off the ticket prices below!

Tonight, visitors will also be able to partake in an auction of artwork created by or for local celebrities.

Prior to the auction, take in the art, and enjoy wine, cider, and cheese while listening to live music.

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Advance tickets are $10 for students, $20 for adults, and $60 for families. Tickets the day of the event are $15 for students, 25 for adults and $80 for families.

Children under age 6 attend for free. Students are persons aged 6 through 18. Families are 2 adults and 2 or more students. Tickets can be bought at the Museum Shop at 124 Elfreth’s Alley, over the phone at (215) 574-0560 or online at www.elfethsalley.org.

Elfreth’s Alley is located off of 2nd Street between Race and Arch Streets in the Old City neighborhood.

THE PHILADELPHIA DAILY RECORD

3 JUNE, 2011

Gripping Drama Shows Life In War-Torn Congo The Philadelphia Theatre Co.’s production of Ruined, by Lynn Nottage, provides a thoroughly absorbing, illuminating and emotionally provocative story about the struggle of various individuals to achieve a semblance of a non-hellish life in a small mining town in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire). This reviewer highly recommends Ruined, and the play is an absolute must-see for any fans of theater, even merely casual fans, who purport remotely to care about subSaharan Africa.

On stage at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre on Broad Street in Center City, Ruined, the winner of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama as well as 13 other major theater awards, is set during the present time. This present time features a local mining boom, but one in the aftermath of two wars (1996-1997 and 1998-2003) which have far from ended and which have left millions dead, as well as hundreds of thousands of others displaced, maimed and sexually violated.

It is this widespread sexual violation of women, specifically humiliation involving rape (often gang rape) followed by purposeful destruction of female genitalia, from which Ruined gets its title. Not that war and its effects are shown to be easy on miners, soldiers, civilians or anyone in the region, but in terms of what teenage girls in particular are portrayed as going 3 JUNE, 2011

BRINGING TO STAGE gruesome dilemmas of everyday life in ravaged contemporary Congo are Keona Welch, Heather Alicia Simms and Oberon Adjepong through, Miss Saigon is made almost to seem like Bye Bye Birdie.

The play’s central character, Mama Nadi, a resilient keeper of a bar/brothel in the mining region, is played convincingly by Heather Alicia Simms. Doing her best to make money, keep young women employed and have a sense of normalcy, the character in many ways, including her desire to avoid taking sides in the war, recalls Casablanca’s central character Rick Blaine, just in a much more sordid environment.

The rest of the cast, some of them the fruits of a local casting call for non-Equity African American actors and actresses (the play actually does include one non-Black character, Mr. Harari [Paul MesheTHE PHILADELPHIA DAILY RECORD

jian] who is supposed to be Lebanese), is outstanding. As Christian, who provides Mama Nadi with goods and prostitutes, Oberon Adjepong compellingly plays a recovering-alcoholic nonsoldier desperate for the simple love and dignity that are so hard to find in the region.

South Philadelphia resident James Ijames, as he also demonstrated in the Arden’s recent and excellent Superior Donuts, has a particular gift for playing audience-engaging conflicted-but-highly-sympathetic characters. In this case, his role is Fortune, a Congolese farmer forced to join military forces and whose wife was one of the many victims of sexual brutality, in her case for months after being kid|

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napped.

Although comfortably over two hours long, the play never loses its energy. In part, this is because the dramatic action itself is literally edge-of-seat. However, the play’s seeming pace also benefits from breaks from dialogue via dancing (an individual dance by Josephine [Chandra Thomas] recalling more pleasant days in the village in which she grew up is the most memorable), songs (as performances in the bar by Sophie [Keona Welch]) and moving monologues (one in Act II by Erika Rose [Salima] stands out as the best). The presence of a drummer (Jordan McCree, who is ending his sophomore year at University of the Arts) in some bar scenes also helps keep events on stage exciting.

Credit also should be given in particular to set designer Antje Eller-

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mann, lighting designer Russell H. Champa and production stage manager Katrina Lynn Olson for doing whatever they technically did to create a sense, at least for this reviewer, that one really was in a bar/brothel in a mining region of the Congo. (Not that Ruined does much to make one ever want to be in such a place.) On that note, my sole criticism of the production is that it is somewhat incongruous, after presenting the general situation in Congo so despondently, to have cast members take bows while the background music frequently mentions “Africa” in a rather upbeat way.)

The Philadelphia Theatre Co. has a mission of producing “imaginative and entertaining contemporary theater focused on the American experience that both ignites the intellect and touches the soul.” Ruined, aside from the fact that it

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takes place abroad in the ominous shadow of a war in which the U.S. has not been involved, has more than exceeded this mission, as have the PTC’s prior two shows, David Mamet’s Race followed by Anna Deavere Smith’s Let Me Down Easy. (Prior to that, The 25th Annual Putnam Co. Spelling Bee was highly entertaining, just a little lighter.)

That streak is likely to end at three.

PTC’s next production, debuting Jun. 29, is Long Story Short, a “one-man comedy manifesto starring Colin Quinn and directed by Jerry Seinfeld.

Note; a slightly different version of this article also appears in the author’s “Philadelphia Jewish Culture Examiner” column on examiner.com.

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