The Public Record • January 16, 2014
Page 26
Elephant Corner (Cont. From Page 10) playing Court in these cases. JUSTICE SONIA SOTOMAYOR issued an order staying the Obamacare mandate requiring that contraception be covered by all health-care policies. A Denver old-age home run by the Little Sisters of the Poor filed suit over the mandate. There are currently approximately 90 cases in the courts on this or related issues. Of course, the left chalked off Sotomayor’s concerns about the rights of
Waffleman (Cont. From Page 10) Pinning the Tail on the Donkey – but I’d bet everyone can find and push the snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every time. And this is my personal favorite: 23. The first testicular guard, the “Cup,” was used by players in ice hockey in 1874 and the first helmet was used in 1974. That means it only took 100 years for men to realize that their brain is also important. Ladies ... quit laughing.
opponents of contraception health-insurance coverage to her being a Roman Catholic. Most Catholics I know have no problem with contraception. The issue is not contraception, but whether health insurance “has to” cover it. Sotomayor’s decision made the front page of many papers. However, the Supreme Court case regarding the President’s recess appointments to the National Labor Review Board, which has been relegated to back pages, may be of greater significance. Obama appointed NLRB members during a period the administration claimed the Senate was in recess. Senate MINORITY LEADER MITCH McCONNELL claims the Senate was in session. Many believe the recess appointment provision in the US Constitution was there to maintain the smooth operation of the government when a vacancy occurred and a Senate approval would not have been timely owing to then-18th-century communication and transportation issues. Recess appointments have since morphed into a tool of the executive branch to fill
positions with preferred appointees who would have problems getting Senate approval. Fortunately for us Americans and unfortunately for the President, his recent appointee to the Supreme Court, ELANA KAGAN, stated the recess appointment’s “original purpose has disappeared and has assumed a new purpose that nobody has intended.” The US Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia in 2013 determined inter-session recess appointments can only be made when the Senate is between formal sessions and not a short break, which was the case with the NLRB appointments. Other legal experts believe recess appointments can only be made for openings that occur during recess and not positions that were open during the previous session. It appears the executive may find its attempts to overplay its hand slapped by its own appointees to the Supreme Court. These judges were appointed for life and the President is able to complain, but cannot ultimately threaten their jobs.
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Group Seeks New Park At Market Collapse Site A new organization – the 22nd & Market Memorial Committee – has been formed to create a permanent memorial park to honor the victims of the Jun. 5, 2013 collapse of the Salvation Army Thrift Store at the southeast corner of 22nd & Market Streets. Committee members include relatives of the victims, civic and business leaders, clergy, urban planning and design professionals. “A memorial park on this sacred site would honor and remember the six dead while providing a reflective and calming oasis in the center of a dense business district,” said committee co-chair Nancy Winkler. “The committee recognizes the potential of this relatively small but important
memorial park to help individuals and the community heal in the aftermath of this horrific, entirely avoidable event.” Winkler is the mother of Anne Bryan, 24, a student at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, who was killed in the collapse while making a clothing donation at the store. More than a dozen others survived the collapse but remain permanently scarred by the ordeal. The genesis of the memorial park came from an online petition created in September by Winkler on www.change.org. It quickly gathered more than 6,000 signatures. John White, chairman of the PFM Group and committee cochair, explained, “We hope to
work collaboratively with the City and the Salvation Army to find an approach to permanently restrict development on the site so that a memorial park is forever dedicated to memorializing the victims and the memory of the event.” Mayor Michael Nutter has assigned Michael DiBerardinis, his deputy for environmental and community resources, to look into this project. The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society has established a tax-exempt fund to which the public may contribute online in support of the park, at www.pennhort.net/memorial. The committee is working on conceptual designs for the temporary memorial which it expects to share in the near future.
Walking The Beat (Cont. From Page 10) the sale process, as the School District seems to have ZERO SKILL in this area. CITY CONTROLLER Alan BUTKOVITZ’S call for universities to spend their BIG BUCKS locally shows the FISCAL understanding we needed in Room 215. During the Pennsylvania Society weekend at the Penn Club breakfast, Penn and the City professed deep warmth for one another. NOW SHOW IT!... The City wants to hire a law firm to represent the poor where there is a defender conflict. Can you imagine the possible continuance BACKLOG? CHAOS could loom. Sam Stretton, Esq. threatens a lawsuit. SUE, SAM! Deputy Mayor Gillison says he is not afraid to take a chance on it. He is ONE PERSON. The feelings of MANY take precedence over a single public official. FIRE COMMISSIONER Lloyd Ayers accepted a donation from Dunphy Ford for the purchase of smoke alarms for the needy. No, City Hall does not buy the detectors for our needy.... RUMOR that repairs have NOT STARTED on the burned-out firehouse at 4th & Arch Streets, as the City ponders the high market value of the location for resale (?). It is a valuable location, but it is a PUBLIC-SAFETY ISSUE, not to mention the area where our NATIONAL TREASURES are located.... January is the birthday month for Carol JENKINS, 27th Ward Leader, and great Temple Professor, who proves ward leaders DO NOT deserve the NASTY inferences the job gets in some media. Kerry LARK, self-taught electronic genius, has his birthday on the 21st. Sadly, it is seven years since Jimmy DEZZI passed on, moving his pleasantness to St. Peter.... And former GOP Voter Commissioner Joe DUDA passed last week. Make that another warm person now on high. I heard from John & Margaret MOORE of Northeast Philly. They spend winter and spring in Edinburgh, Scotland. A retired Air Force man who has fond memories of
the old, late, great Board of Revision. Yours Aye, John. FORMER Secretary of Defense Robert GATES is critical of the President in his memoir. He was a trusted SECDEF by GOP and Democrats; but retirement is lonely after the life of a star. So he offers criticism. All he said was Obama was never committed to the Afghan War. WE ALL KNEW THAT. This soldier says, “GOOD.” Get our sons and daughters out of there. Gates’s calling the VP wrong on almost all foreign matters – must mean Gates is RIGHT all the time (?)... A noted conservative has finally said it: If they got rid of Obamacare – it would not be better. On the gas pipeline through the Jersey Pinelands. This PINEY (since 1970s) says to the President of South Jersey Gas, yes, the pipeline would improve reliability to consumers. It is the ROUTE that is wrong! And the State Attorney General’s preventing the vote of one antipipeline Pinelands Commissioner has shades of FT. LEE LANE CLOSURES to me (?). If Gov. Brendan BYRNE is against the route, so am I. BYRNE began Pinelands Preservation, reportedly in an altercation with a GOP leader who saw a house on each quarter-acre as “preservation.” In a more-recent dispute of acres for a high school, the US Secretary of the Interior had to come in to break the Commission tie vote! The recently retained local judges are a group that goes about their work in a competent and quietly professional way. I am happy to hear of the retention of Judges Jacqueline ALLEN, Genece BRINKLEY, Ramy DJERASSI, Lori “Song” DUMAS, Holly (and Brennan) FORD, Rayford (very efficient) MEANS, Jeffrey (greatness in future) MINEHART, Joseph O’KEEFE, Paula “Decisive” PATRICK, Doris PECHKUROW, Allan TERESHKO and Nina WRIGHT-PADILLA.... The State Supreme Court rules change on relatives on the payroll, and memberships, comes after many, many years (?). It was too MEAGER a change to add a brief term for the Chief Justice.
State Rep. Mark COHEN has checkmated an opponent who seems to exude computersavvy. He appointed a FACEBOOK page EDITOR, since even State REP campaigns are run on national tactics nowadays…. State Rep. Vanessa BROWN, as leader of the Pennsylvania Black Leadership Caucus, saw to it a busload of inner-city kids got to the Farm Show!
Out & About (Cont. From Page 10) think you have a shot. The current wisdom here in Philly is the powers that be have anointed State Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams (and the charter-school groups bankrolling him) as the person to beat. Those powers could make sure Rev. Johnson is unable to even throw a fish fry to raise funds. And the last thing that could make things interesting is Bright Hope Baptist itself. The congregation of Bright Hope is politically connected ... and filled with politicos. If he can’t get folks like City Councilwoman Marian Tasco behind him, Rev. Johnson probably won’t have a prayer. So Rev. Johnson’s exploratory committee had got its work cut out for it. Praise the Lord and pass the sample ballots.
City Hall Sam
(Cont. From Page 10) ing divide between two Philadelphias: one that is well educated, highly skilled and earns high wages and one that is not well educated, under-employed or unemployed. This issue was raised by Butkovitz in his swearing-in speech at the Academy of Music. He released a report a few days late showing how buy local campaigns could create over 4,000 jobs. The Controller’s campaign hinges on getting large employers in Philly such as Comcast, IBC, Penn, Jefferson Health System, and Temple to buy locally made products. It’s an innovative program aimed at increasing manufacturing in the city. It sounds very mayoral and will probably be a key issue in Butkovitz’s expected 2015 mayoral run.