Category: Bob Small

Vote Early Vote Often, Memories South Philly’s 2nd Ward

Vote Early Vote Often, Memories South Philly’s 2nd Ward

By Bob Small

This was probably around 1989, when I was visiting my old South Philly apartment-mate, having recently moved up and out to Swarthmore. On the way to the local dinery, we ran into a D Committee Person who asked if I was voting today, Election Day.

“Joe, I don’t live here anymore”

“Bob, I didn’t ask you that”

Vote Early Vote Often, Memories South Philly's 2nd Ward

This was back in the wild and wooly days of South Philly D Politics, where the 2nd Ward Meetings would end with the admonition to “vote early and often”.

Said as a joke. I think. The big names were Vince Fumo, Joe Tayoun, and Joe Vignola. Maybe you heard of them. Quite sure the same jiggery-pokery never happens with R’s in Delco.

If elected, the Greens would never engage in this. Not sure about the Libertarians.

In Swarthmore, at the 2005 Primary, I went in to vote on a Ballot Question, as befits a Green Party member. However, the Judge of Elections tried to refuse to let me vote as I was neither D nor R. As this Ballot Question would involve higher taxes, I asked whether I would be exempt from these taxes as I was denied my vote.

When that didn’t work, I stated I would sit on his election table, as I had sat in at various protests, until I was physically removed or allowed to vote. Wanting to avoid a scene, he allowed me to cast a ballot. What he should have done, if he was unsure of the law — imagine a judge not knowing the law — was to let me have a Provisional ballot.

Later that year, in my only foray into electoral politics, I ran against him, as a Green, and lost, but felt vindicated.

My story ended up being shared state wide among the third parties of the time,
so this particular slight, denial of the right to vote, could never happen again.

I had a running mate in that election, who ran as both a Green and a Republican,
for the Wallingford Swarthmore School Board. She lost, of course, but won the next year as a Democrat. Her name is Mary Gay Scanlon. I often wonder what happened to her.

Memories South Philly’s 2nd Ward

Swarthmore Was Once Republican

Swarthmore Was Once Republican

By Bob Small

For many years, Swarthmore, and Delaware County was safely Republican. Recently the tide has turned, as it usually does, and now both Delaware County Council, and the Borough of Swarthmore, are solidly Democratic. Though many have ascribed it to Swarthmore College’s influence, or “the Kremlin on the Krum”, as one Spiro T. Agnew called it, it was probably time for a change.

In the 2020 Election, Swarthmore had 3,345 votes for Biden and 427 for Trump. The Borough is 59.3 D and 37.0 Exact number of Registrants, it seems, were only available from the Delco Bureau of Elections, via a release of information form, which my inner Libertarian rebelled against.

The Swarthmore Republican Party does exist, but it has no electronic presence!

The Swarthmore Democratic Party has a Facebook page updated
on Sep. 28 (as of Oct 9), The website for the Swarthmore Democratic Committee was last updated in 2018, and also uses Latin (the influence of the College, no doubt). By the way, there was a Swarthmore College Republican Group, but….

As for the Nov 2, Municipal Election, Republicans Albert Federico and David Rowley are standing for Inspector of Elections in their Precincts; 2 out of the 13 major Party Candidates. Albert mentions that he is “running to retain his current position as Minority Inspector”. He could only become the Majority Inspector if he garnered more votes than the Democrat running in his precinct. David Rowley is fairly reticent.

As a Green, I don’t really have a dog in this hunt, though I’ll vote for the Libertarian on the Swarthmore ballot, Patrick John Hochstuhl, who is standing u for Constable. A Constable (courtesy of Berks County)
“A Constable is a sworn Law Enforcement/Peace Officer that can arrest for felony crimes and breaches of the peace committed in his presence, or by warrant anywhere in the commonwealth.”

There are 117 pages in the Municipal Races, just for Delaware County, and there are only 3 Libertarians and one Green running, which is a lost opportunity because many of these offices are unopposed. Among Independents, a David Cleary is running for Garnet Valley School Board.

Statewide, there are almost 150 Libertarians running for various offices, and nine Greens. One of whom, Kearni Warren, will be part of a three-way League of Women Voters of Central Delaware County Candidate Forum 7 p.m., tomorrow, Oct 12 . It will be live-streamed on YouTube. Visit here for details.

Swarthmore Was Once Republican
Swarthmore Was Once Republican

A Republican In Swarthmore

A Republican In Swarthmore

By Bob Small

I spoke to one of the Republicans in Swarthmore with a long and devoted history with the Party about his experiences. He is still active, though a young senior. we discussed the history of the history and future of the Swarthmore GOP, and how things had changed and not changed.

For purposes of this article, he agreed to the interview as long as his name wasn’t used, I’ll call him RS (Republican in Swarthmore)’

Swarthmore, Pa., for those who don’t know is overwhelmingly Democrat.

RS remembers the time when the Borough was almost all Republicans and now
is almost, well it is all Democrat, except for a few minor offices.

A Republican In Swarthmore

He didn’t feel it had changed “a whole hell of a lot”, and that Borough Council continued to be dedicated to “the needs of the local citizens”.

We also touched on Alice “Putty” Willets , whom he worked with in her capacity on Borough Council and who I knew for her work on the “Dew Drop Inn” Senior Center. We both agreed it was a shame she was never elected Mayor.

Here is her obit from The Swarthmorean https://www.swarthmorean.com obituary-death-notice

RS says he has maybe received maybe 10 “crazy comments” in his various duties for the Borough about being a “Republican”, probably the same I have received for being a Green and not a Democrat.

RS is a proud Swarthmore College graduate and we discussed where he agreed and disagreed with the College’s decisions I. e. He thought the Inn was “a great enrichment”, for instance, but worked against the College dropping football. How the College affected the Blue Route (2 lanes rather than four), and how the College seeks to maintain “good community relations” by having Athletics, Concerts, Lectures , etc open to the public.

Lastly, we both being Seniors, feeling “it beats the alternative”, we discussed how the Borough helps with walkability by keeping the sidewalks in shape by reminding homeowners about repair, trimming bushes, etc. Right now, there’s a whole vibrant downtown area, but people of all Parties are becoming opposed to this huge Condo project that might eviscerate up to 50 percent of our shopping area. (More about that in the future).
Like many of us, he worries that the increasing RE taxes and higher rents will affect the future of Swarthmoreans to continue to “age in place”.

A Republican In Swarthmore

Cancel The Cancel Culture And Do It Now

Cancel The Cancel Culture And Do It Now

By Bob Small

One of my exercise T-shirts reads “My Governor can beat your Governor”, sent by my daughter from her adopted Minnesota, referencing then Governor (1991-95) Jessie Ventura. Following his Governorship, 1991-95 (from the Reform Party) he ventured into Broadcasting, his latest show being The World according to Jesse. This program is on RT aka Russia Today.

RT, by the way, though disparaged by some as “Putin’s Network” or Russia’s Voice of America, is actually much wider than that, featuring some news stories before their appearance on CNN, FOX, MSNBC, etc. They are a mix of news and hosted shows.

Cancel The Cancel Culture And Do It Now

Now on Jesse’s Sep 18 show, the second half interview segment featured Dan Kovalik, author of Cancel This Book: The progressive case against Cancel Culture. The title is a nod to Abbie Hoffman’s Steal This Book.

Dan is an American human rights and labor rights lawyer, peace activist, Columbia grad, and the leftist of left.

Dan was inspired to write this book by the “cancelling” of Molly Rush.


Molly Rush, is the 80-something co-founder of Pittsburgh’s Thomas Merton Center. She is perhaps best known for being one ofThe Plowshares 8, along with the Berrigans, civil disobedient anti-nuclear activists. Again, very lefty.

The center is named for a Roman Catholic poet and monk, also known as a non-violent peaceful change activist. Guess this might be lefty, too. See www.thomasmertoncenter.org for a list of activities.

So what did Molly Rush do to deserve canceling. She posted a meme, about one
Martin Luther King, “Looted nothing. Burned Nothing. Attacked No One. Changed the World.”

Molly was then forced to apologize for this posting, which, incredibly, was deemed “racist” and worse. How is any of what she said wrong, in what universe is this not what, one hopes, most of us Lefties (actually most others) believe in and work for? For a full discussion of this incident, go to an article titled How an MLK meme split the Thomas Merton Center.

I have been wondering whether the Left has been infiltrated by those who are trying to make the Left look , well, stupid. If so, they have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. Does the Right also have these problems? Please tell me they do.

Bob Small is a resident of Swarthmore.

Cancel The Cancel Culture And Do It Now

Being Green In Chester Isn’t Easy

Being Green In Chester Isn’t Easy

By Bob Small

Kearni Warren is running for a seat on Chester City Council. If she should somehow win, she would be the first Green Party member to ever sit on Chester City Council. Her main issue is the ever-present environmental environmental racism issue of Covanta i.e. Chester being a dumping grounds for Delco.

Kearni is running to unseat Portia West (D) who she feels has not done enough on the environmental racism issue. However, this has become a three way race as Stefan Roots (D), blogger and Swarthmorean columnist is also opposing her. It would seem two challenger candidates might consider working together but Democrats act as though they are not, historically, allowed to work with Greens on anything. Now if Warren was a Working Party Candidate, or a DSA Candidate…

Kearni is the daughter of the late Rev. Bernice Warren, who served for two decades (until 2016) as Pastor/Director of Chester East Side Ministries.

Kearni stated that Stefan’s win, in the Primary, against incumbent William Jacobs inspired her to run. However, it seems that Stefan, once an insurgent Candidate, is now aligning himself with the Democratic Establishment.

Also, Stefan had almost weekly articles in The Swarthmorean, which we all looked forward to, on the goings on in the City of Chester, These seem to have stopped,at least recently, Also his Campaign Manager, is one Todd Strine, a Philadelphian who is also co-Publisher of, you guessed it, The Swarthmorean.

Kearni is a graduate of Eastern University’s Business Administration program. She has worked in various positions for (SEIUHCPA) Service Employees International Union Healthcare Pennsylvania, and United Home Care Workers of Pennsylvania.

She’s a great believer in the Bible, especially Luke 12:48 ìFrom everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded, and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much will be demanded.î She wants to continue in the Social Justice spirit of her mother.

Though no fan of previous 20th century Chester governments, she stated that “In the 21st Century, we have a constant flow of Democratic Council Members who can’t even get the trash picked up on time, let alone address Chester’s severe social, environmental, and financial pitfalls”

Her electronic presence is at both www.warren4chester.com or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/kearniforchester.

Being Green In Chester Isn't Easy

BBC Proms Worth Clicking

BBC Proms Worth Clicking

By Bob Small

Normally, my articles tend toward the Political, in one or another ways. However we will be discussing a yearly musical phenomenon (first heard in 1895) and how you can now hear it for free.

BBC Proms Worth Clicking

The BBC Proms aka Henry Wood Promenade Concert presented by the BBC began in 1895 as both Classical and Popular Music Concerts designed, via low ticket prices and an informal atmosphere, to bring music to the masses.

Over the years, the eight-week festival morphed into jazz, world music and many etceteras. Because Britain is no longer an empire but now a Commonwealth, they use this, as BBC itself, as what they themselves call “soft power,” as opposed to the massive military force they once had.

To find the BBC Proms on your search engine of choice (I use Duck Duck Go, so as not to be searched myself.) to get to BBC Radio 3. Click on BBC Sounds or any other link but I Player. (I Player requires you to live in England,) Then you can choose your Concerts. As of this writing , most are still available for a month, the earliest ones expiring first. I listen sequentially, but that’s also how I read a book or watch a movie, whereas others choose by Composer or Conductor, whether Classical or Jazz. I now use my Smartphone, which seems to work easier for me on BBC Radio 3 BBC Proms.

The Last Night of the Proms has traditionally featured the Anthem “Rule Brittania”and other highly Patriotic songs. Lately, though, what might be termed the ‘Woke’ crowd has been protesting that, seeing this as inconsistent with the aims of the British Commonwealth, especially as Britannia no longer ‘rules the waves’ or anything else. (Possibly not even Scotland if they get another referendum.) Rather, the Proms, like BBC itself, is a form of soft power, witness the many people, self included, who listen to at least one BBC program daily.

Pennsylvania 5G Law Passes With Little Fanfare

Pennsylvania 5G Law Passes With Little Fanfare

By Bob Small

HB 162 was passed by the Pennsylvania Legislature, and signed into law as Act 50 on June 30 by the Gov. Tom Wolf. The Small Wireless Facilities Deployment Act was passed with only three dissenting votes and little notice. The idea is to accelerate 5G infrastructure in Pennsylvania

We all, of course, want the modern world of 5G and any route to this sounds like it must be harmless. Well, yes and no. First, we learned of this item at the July Swarthmore Borough Council Meeting. We learned that the mini-towers required for 5G could be planted on the grass strips that many of us have between sidewalk and street.

This is property we had thought was owned by the homeowners and, we assumed, was part of what we pay taxes for We assumed we had control of what goes on on these strips. Guess not.

Now, according to State Senator Tim Kearney (D-26 and a former fine Mayor of Swarthmore) there are but sevem exceptions whereas a municipality can “refuse the installation of small cells.” None of these 7 exemptions apply to these street strips already having a planting of any kind of tree, neither fruit trees or saplings, or… These would probably have to go, though that’s a small price for progress, one supposes.

The apple harvest we had this year may be our last.

There’s an exception for Historical Markers, but this would not necessarily apply to, say, Swarthmore’s Historically Black Neighborhood. Each case like this might have to be brought up individually. How this might effect Swarthmore College is still unclear.

We have also been told that all these initial requests will be coming to your town by the end of the†month.

According to Legiscan.com, the only three nays, in the State House, were Democrat Kevin J. Boyle, and Republicans Carl Walker Metzgar, and Brett R. Miller, none of whom mentioned it on their websites.
Boyle, who participated in some forums I organized, did not respond as to his reasons to vote against this bill. No one in the Pennsylvania Senate opposed it.

Bob Small is a resident of Swarthmore.

Pennsylvania 5G Law Passes With Little Fanfare
HB 162 was passed by the Pennsylvania Legislature, and signed into law as Act 50 o

Gigi Williams Inspiring Autobiography

Gigi Williams Inspiring Autobiography

By Bob Small

This is the backstory of how I came to read Gigi Williams’ autobiographical book

God’s Hand in my “One” (looking back at the Master’s Plan). We had traveled to the village of North East , MD, to visit a friend — let’s call her M — as this location was equidistant from our homes.

While at a picnic table by the Bay, a few people came up to us. One of them was Gigi, a middle-aged woman with one hand, who offered her book, for free, which I accepted, on the condition that she sign it, which she did. My acceptance was based on the fact that I always accept free books, whether on peace, politics, poetry, or religion.

Gigi Williams Inspiring Autobiography

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.

These words from Proverbs 3:5-6, are part of the introduction to Chapter 8 and this summarizes a main message of Gigi’s book, that she has had to lean on faith, as opposed to medical technology, which she has also tried.

Along with her faith she also stresses her acceptance which, in her case, means she sees herself as different rather than “disabled”. Her book talks about the faith and acceptance that led her to have a career, a college degree, a driving license,a marriage and a family, all while being different rather than being “disabled.”

She writes in a very direct, unemcumbered way.

Camp no limits, which she mentions towards the end, is still active in Maryland.

See https://nolimitsfoundation.org/ and Facebook. This is a camp focused on children with “limb loss”, not to be confused with the no limits foundation which focuses on autism related issues. Camp no Limits has a religious connection, which permeates the whole book. My sense is that her religious faith has sustained her, which I accept as one way to get through this labyrinth we call life.

This book can be ordered through www.gigiwilliams.info and also is carried by Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.

Gigi Williams Inspiring Autobiography

Home In India, A Review

Home In India, A Review

By Bob Small

Almost every Saturday Night around 11:30 p.m. (9 a.m. Indian time the following day), we find ourselves going to Epiphany’s Church Service, in English (Cuttack,India), via Zoom. One of the most inspiring pastors is Rev. Moumita Biswas of the Church of Scotland.

Rev. Biswas is featured Andrew Mills’ book Home in India, which can be ordered at https://www.andrewmillsbooks.com/

This weekly schedule is not due to any great religious fervor, but rather relationships formed by my wife while she was in India previously, that were recently re-established.

This was many years and one husband ago.

Part of the story of Andy Mills in India is his role as in India as a Lay Missionary.

The Andy Mills we know is from his work in Witness for Peace. Witness for Peace was founded in 1983 and campaigns for “peace, justice, and sustainable economies in Latin America”.

Andrew Mills connects both these topics and more; He has been a Chairperson of Witness for Peace (1994-2012). Previously, he went to India , in a dual role as a consulting groundwater hydrologist/programmer and a lay Missionary under the UCBWM (United Church Board for World Ministries). This was from 1956-61, and 1967-71.

This book introduced me to a part of Andy that I never knew, the Missionary. He felt he was in India to help with both bodies and souls.

He talks honestly of the dichotomies between his views as a Christian Westerner, and both the Christian Indians and Hindu Indians. Along the way, there are also the differing views within the Christian Missionary Community.

One vital point he makes is the notion that he should live simply, in the same way that the Indians live. This adjustment was not easy for him as an American.

He also explained that the different groupings had much to learn from each other when they chose to listen.

Recently, when I looked up the current status of CNI, the Church of Northern India, I discovered that some of the same concerns that he wrote about were still in the process of being resolved.

The book is divided into sections covering his dual activities in India, and three epilogues, honoring both British and Indian Christians he worked with.

Home In India, A Review

Biden Bucks In Swarthmore Pa

Biden Bucks In Swarthmore Pa

By Bob Small

There’s always something to learn at your local Borough Council Meeting.  We learned at the July 26 Swarthmore Borough Council Meeting that the Feds have allocated us $664, 230.82.

Now, according to the US Department of the Treasury, these funds can be used to “address negative economic impacts caused by the public health emergency”  and “replace lost public sector revenues”, among other generalities.

Like many communities, we have a volunteer fire department.  They could use some monies.  Our police department is funded, though they could always use more.  (They don’t need their own tank, though.)  The Library and some of our Senior Groups always need additional funding. And, of course, our business community will all be vying for their share of the Biden Bucks.  The new vaping shop will apply but that money could go up in smoke.

Luckily, we do not have an Antifa or Proud Boys Chapter in Swarthmore, as they might also  try to apply. (I’m not suggesting formation of either for these purposes.)

I’m somewhat regretful that I’ve retired from coordinating any Political Forums or Poetics, which means I’ll miss out on this magic money tree.

A direct quote, says that within these overall categories, five overly broad categories, “recipients have broad flexibility to decide how best to use this funding to meet the needs of their communities”  (home.treasury.gov)

Outside of a child’s allowance, when are monies issued without some guidelines?

I still remember hearing my parents say “Now, Bobby, don’t spend it all on cookies and beer.”  (We lived in Northeast Philly.)

You don’t just give monies to local government.  That involves a level of trust that most local government has yet to earn.

These are monies meant to earn approval ratings and votes, nothing else.

Bob Small is a resident of Swarthmore, Pa.

Biden Bucks In Swarthmore Pa
Biden Bucks In Swarthmore Pa