John Cole Kudos

John Cole

Kudos to Chichester High School math teacher John Cole who was recently profiled by Bette Alburger on Delaware County News Network regarding his 37 years as the school’s Delco Hi-Q  coach.

He is the longest-serving faculty adviser in the academic competition’s 67-year history.

The competition was originally known as Scott Hi-Q as the Delaware County-based Scott Paper Company was its sponsor until it merged with Kimberly Clark Corp in 1997.

To go a bit off topic, if one googles Scott Plaza, the first hit concerns a multifamily housing community in Houston, Texas  where Scott Street intersects with — cruel irony alert if you remember Alfred Dunlap and the downfall of Scott — Sunbeam Street.

John Cole Kudos

Austan Goolsbee Vs The Law

Austan Goolsbee may be one of those guys who think the law just doesn’t apply to his set.

Goolsbee has degrees from Yale and MIT and was an Alfred Sloan Fellow and a Fulbright Scholar, and, as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, was the youngest member of President Obama’s cabinet.

And in 2010, during a briefing to reporters, this super smart guy said that Koch Industries, owned by libertarian philanthropists Charles and David Koch — strong Obama opponents — paid no income taxes.

He may have used a confidential IRS document to do so. Unlike,  say, using our byzantine tax code to avoid taxes,  this would have been a  violation of U.S. law.

Republican senators demanded that the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration investigate and the office said it would.

Well, mum then became the word as to what the investigation found or if it actually occurred.

So,  the watchdog group Cause of Action filed Freedom of Information Act requests as to what was going on with it.

The request was rejected by the Obama Administration on the very funny grounds that it was unlawful to release a citizen’s tax returns.

So, like a good watchdog group, Cause of Action sued. On Sept. 29, United States District Judge Amy Berman Jackson ruled in its favor and ordered the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration to release the requested information.

The Obama Administration has said that Goolsbee was just repeated something he recalled reading.

If so, why the fight to keep things hidden?

 

Austan Goolsbee Vs The Law

Austan Goolsbee Vs The Law

 

 

 

Capitol Welcome Center Opens

Capitol Welcome Center Opens

The Capitol Welcome Center reopened this last week, offering new and improved interactive exhibits to help people of all ages learn more about state government, the Commonwealth’s history and the history of the Capitol building itself, reports State Rep. Jim Cox (R-129)

The Welcome Center is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and is a great way to begin or end your free public tour of the historic Capitol building.

To schedule a tour, or for additional information about visiting the Capitol, contact one’s state representative.

To see images of the new Welcome Center, click here.

For more information, click here.

Capitol Welcome Center Opens