News, Entertainment, Enlightenment
Manufacturing Sharpest Drop In 4 Years — The Institute for Supply Management’s factory index fell to 49 from last month’s 50.7, the Tempe, Arizona-based group reported today.
It was the fastest manufacturing drop in four years shocking analysts.
Hip, hip hooray to Philadelphia’s Janney Montgomery Scott LLC, whose fixed income strategist Guy LeBas was the only one to call it right.
This news is also likely to shock those at The Philadelphia Inquirer for those few still reading it.
Last years, Delaware County, Pa. was featured in all its beauty in the brilliant and Oscar-winning Silver Linings Playbook.
Last weekend, Will Smith’s After Earth, filmed largely at Sun Center Studious in Chester Township, opened on 3,000 plus screens.
Look at it this way: We are batting .500.
Elizabeth Osterhout Margerum died May 30. She was 83.
Mrs. Margerum worked at the County Press and associated newspapers in Delaware County, Pa. for 31 years, much of that time as society editor.
She also edited the Bits and Pieces and Health Briefs columns and wrote occasional articles. She was also the prime designer of many of the newspaper’s prize-winning floats in the Marple Newtown Fourth of July Parade.
She worked full-time until last year.
“She battled esophageal cancer for over three years,” her daughter Patricia said. “She did not let chemo or radiation stop her from anything. Even her doctors were amazed at how resilient she was at 81.”
She made her own jewelry and was a long-time member of the Tuscarora Lapidary Society.
She loved travel and the outdoors. She and her family camped up and down the East Coast for many years. She also visited many islands and even made it to Morocco, Spain, and Portugal just a few years ago. Her favorite place to spend time was in Plevna, Ontario, Canada, where she owned land, hiked, and fished. As she would say, it felt like an untouched part of the world.
“She looked at life through a 20 year old’s eyes and was always excited and interested in trying anything new,” Patricia said. “She never considered herself old.”
Mrs. Margerum was graduated from Upper Darby High School in 1947 and studied art at Lock Haven State.College. She lived in the Media area for 50 years, most recently in Upper Providence Township.
She was a long-time member of the Media Presbyterian Church.
She was married for 46 years to William B. Margerum IV of the Margerum family that long had a meat market in Reading Terminal.
She was predeceased by her husband; son David; daughter Tamara Lee; brother Donald P. Osterhout, Jr.,; sister Anne E. Chandler; and brother-in-law Bud Chandler.
Besides Patricia, she is survived by nephew Keith Chandler, niece Lee Anne Chandler, sister-in-law Trudi Osterhout and Osterhout nieces and nephew; Susan, Patty, and Peter.
Services will be held at Media Presbyterian Church on Wednesday, June 12, with visiting at 10 a.m. and Memorial Service at 11 a.m.
In lieu of flowers, please make donations to Juvenile Diabetes Association or American Cancer Society.
Sean Parker, the first president of Facebook and co-founder of Napster who has a net worth estimated at $2 billion, married his singer girlfriend and mother of his child, Saturday at a ceremony in Big Sur, California that cost $9 million.
Landscapers spent weeks building fake waterfalls, ruins and a $600,000 stone gate. The couple and guests were garbed by Oscar-winning designer Ngila Dickson.
Wow. How many poor children could he have fed with that money? How many illegal immigrants could he have supplied with health care?
OTOH, one supposes it beats giving it to Democrats as he had been doing.
Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa) has announced that he is a co-sponsor of Jerusalem Embassy and Recognition Act (S.604 that will move our embassy in Israel from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem.
The law would make it official U.S. policy to recognize Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel and that the U.S. embassy should be located there.
The 10-year-old Newtown Square girl suffering from cystic fibrosis who desperately needs a lung transplant has apparently been consigned to death by Kathleen Sebelius and the Obama administration.
Bureaucratic rules require those under 12 to wait their turn for adult organ transplants, which can be modified for children, and prohibit medical necessity as a consideration. The family of the girl, Sarah Murnaghan, has petitioned Health and Human Services Secretary Sebelius to waive the rule as it is in her power to do so.
They were joined by Sen. Pat Toomey and people from around the world.
Well, the Secretary has spoken. She has called for a review of the policy. It will take about two years. It is not going to do Sarah any good.
The allocation of organs is obviously a difficult subject but it is horrifically callous to hide behind a rule rather than be guided by conscience. It is the bureaucrats that worship these rules as they allow them to make problems disappear while they consider the menu for their next catered lunch. This decision should not be in their hands. The only criteria should be is it necessary and can it be done. The determination is best left to doctors with proven track records.
We must make that the case and fight to save Sarah.
New Patent Law; Little Guy Loses Again — The Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, signed into law on Sept. 16, 2011, went into effect on March 16.
The act changes American patent law from “first to invent”, as it was since 1952, to “first to file”. Under the old, and more just, system if you could prove using lab notes and witness testimony that you were first the first to invent a product you would win the patent.
Now, the cards are all held by those with the best legal staff.
“It’s great news – if ytou have an in-house patent department,” writes Issie Lapowksy of Inc. magazine.
The bill’s co-sponsors Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Congressman Lamar Smith (R-TX21) have a reputation for being in the pocket of corporate high tech.
Toomey Supports Victims Of Military Sex Assault — Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) announces that the has sponsored legislation with Sens. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) to assist service members who are victims of sexual assault in the military and to hold their attackers accountable.
Hopefully the male victims will be eligible too.
The season has finally arrived!
Memorial Day weekend ushered in the unofficial start of summer when people relax with family and friends, enjoying what little leisure time is left in America.
But Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett made it abundantly clear he wasn’t interested in that season.
For him, it was all about making it Open Season — on Pennsylvanians.
In a move that defies every ounce of common sense for a governor touting the lowest popularity in the nation, Corbett had his state police slip across the border over the weekend to engage in sting operations, targeting Pennsylvanians for the capital crime of buying liquor in Delaware and crossing back into the Keystone State.
And what was the mammoth haul of Tommy’s troopers?
The equivalent of 17 cases of beer, 10 cases of wine, and 15 bottles of liquor.
At least Pennsylvania has no other pressing problems to which its increasingly limited resources should be allocated. Oh, wait. It does. A lot, actually.
That was made readily apparent watching the local news when, immediately after the liquor confiscation story, it was reported that Pennsylvania had the worst, most dangerous bridges in the nation (while Delaware’s were second best).
How can the governor reconcile those things? Despite having historic Republican majorities in both legislative chambers, Corbett has made zero headway fixing our crumbling infrastructure, yet prioritizes undercover operations (which nab three people) buying alcohol in another state. Going out on a limb here, but wouldn’t the substantial resources spent on operations in Delaware be better utilized elsewhere? Like in Pennsylvania?
How much taxpayer money was wasted on logistics, fuel costs, and troopers’ salaries, compared to the miniscule tax Pennsylvania “lost?” The numbers aren’t even in the same ballpark, so what were they doing? Squandering resources just to make a point — whatever that point is?
Try explaining that to the family who loses a loved one to a drunk driver who maybe, just maybe, could have been stopped had the state police been patrolling in-state. Or to those victimized by burglary, assault and numerous other crimes while their police were busy making out-of-state, small-time liquor busts.
On a holiday weekend where there is always an upswing in driving while intoxicated (there were five fatal DUI crashes, according to state police), the governor unleashed his dogs on those simply trying to avoid the whopping 18 percent Johnstown Flood Tax of 1936 (plus the additional sales tax) that Pennsylvania levies on wine and liquor.
Is this his way of strong-arming his liquor privatization plan? A kind of “pass my bill or it’ll be like this until you do” message?
Great, except that his bill wouldn’t keep people from flocking to other states to buy liquor, as Freindly Fire explained in a prior column. No one is a bigger privatization proponent than I, but do it right or not at all. But since neither Corbett’s nor the Legislature’s plan eliminate the Johnstown tax, prices will remain high or, quite likely, further increase, if either proposal passes.
And if Delaware stings aren’t about liquor privatization, then what are they about? And why?
Give Tom Corbett credit for one thing: If he’s trying to attain a single-digit approval rating, he is succeeding better than the Democrats ever dreamed.
Aside from the sheer stupidity of engaging in such an operation, several questions are worth asking:
1. Are Pennsylvania State Police legally permitted to operate in other states? If so, why? A call to the Delaware State Police yielded no information, as two individuals had no knowledge of Pennsylvania’s actions. Which makes sense, since it is not in Delaware’s interest to put a damper on legal Delaware commerce.
2. How is this not a violation on the Interstate Commerce Clause? It should be, but the 21st Amendment has a provision allowing states to regulate alcohol almost any way they want. It should be changed.
3. Since random, empty liquor boxes are used to package alcoholic and non-alcoholic bottles at the checkout counter, do the police have probable cause to search one’s trunk after the border crossing is made? How do the police know that the Grey Goose box doesn’t contain soda and non-alcoholic beer? As long as we’re talking about amendments, the governor and police should read the Fourth one. It’s kind of important.
4. When Corbett’s liquor privatization plan doesn’t pass this month — and it probably won’t — will the number of search and seizures escalate? Bet you a case of Delaware liquor they will.
Corbett continues to rationalize why his Jerry Sandusky investigation took so long. One excuse was that he didn’t have the necessary resources, since as attorney general, he didn’t control the state police — the governor did. Under that rationale, Tom Corbett as governor is, and must be, responsible for all operations of the state police under his command, so the buck stops with him on these heavy-handed liquor stings.
As the backlash grows, it has become yet another reason why next year’s re-election chances looks very sobering for Tom Corbett.
Michele Bachmann Coming To Philly — Minnesota Congresswomen Michele Bachmann, who made a run fro the presidency last year, will speak at the Union League of Philadelphia, noon, Friday, June 7 following a reception that begins at 11:30 a.m.
Tickets are $50. The event is sponsored by The Union League Public Affairs Committee and Philadelphia Freedom Center.
For information call 484-380-2549. To register click here
Hat tip Bob Guzzardi