Category: feudalism

Development Trend For Peasantization

There is set of people that has the strange desire for order in the lives of other people and that, that they have been somehow ordained to be the means to do so. Development Trend For Peasantization

One of their latest conceits is the transit-oriented development which is basically putting in a high density development of homes, apartments and offices around a 19th century commuter rail station in the middle of a successful suburb.

Peasant homes for peasants you could call it.

If done properly, the developer will be able to sip a Chablis before the gas-fire in the fireplace of his McMansion’s living room as he watches through arched windows the deer play in the snow of his two-acre backyard and think warm thoughts about his “little people” scurrying about like happy hamsters in his new community, and feel as though he has just saved the world.

An attempt is being made to put one of these in Middletown Township, Delaware County, Pa. on the old Franklin Mint property with the proposed Wawa Station on SEPTA’s Media-Elwyn rail line as the transit hub.

It would have 1,200 residences including “luxury” apartments; 798,000 square feet of office space, and 235,000 square feet of retail space.

And in Montgomery County, Abington Township has signed on to a  transit-oriented development centered on SEPTA’s Noble Station on the West Trenton Line which will allow for increasing the residential unit density from eight per acre to 300 on an 8-acre tract next to the Baederwood Shopping Mall.

Someone is going to point out that starter homes and apartments are needed, and they would be right. But rather than break things that are fixed — like low-density, affluent suburban townships — how about we try to fix things that are broken.

Like, well, Philadelphia.

In 1950, Philly had a population of 2.07 million ; a population density of 16,286 per square mile. Today, it has a population of 1.55 million and a population density of 11,457 per square mile.

Clearly, it can fit more people.

And  historic North Philadelphia Station and the Broad Street Subway line would make great hubs for transit-oriented developments.

Now, some will point out that nobody who loves their children would willingly subject them to the city’s public school system. True!

But  school vouchers would easily solve that.

Other cynics might say that these are very high crime areas. Also true! But if you really had confidence in your ability to order the lives of others you would have the faith that responsible homeowners in self-contained communities would push out the “no-snitch” crowd.

And if not, well, maybe you shouldn’t try to break things that are fixed.

Development Trend For Peasantization

Nazi Midwinter Holiday Reprise

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter has repented like The Grinch and returned Christmas to the Christmas Village sign at the traditional seasonal outdoor market outside City Hall.

But why did he even consider taking it down in the first place? Should Christmas be a dirty word? Those who want to make it so should remember whose footsteps they are trying to follow.

The Nazis hated Christianity and Christmas posed a problem to them since it was Germany’s most popular holiday. Rather than ban it, they tried to replace it as described in this story at the TimesOnline, the website for the paper most of us in the U.S. know as The Times of London albeit in the U.K. it is simply the Times.

The Nazis replaced carols praising Jesus with secular songs about the season — winter wonderlands so to speak. They insisted Christmas trees be called fir trees, light trees or Jultrees.

They insisted the event, Julfest or Wintersonnenwende (Winter Solstice), be one  to remember Germanic ancestors and soldiers. Here is an example of how it was supposed to be done according to a popular women’s magazine at the time:

 

 Nazi Midwinter Holiday Reprise

Something like that could never happen in Pennsylvania or the United States, right?

Nazi Midwinter Holiday Reprise

HB 2497 Pension Bailout Unconstitutional

HB 2497 Pension Bailout Unconstitutional  — HB 2497 aka  Gen Theft was sent to the governor’s desk for a signature Nov. 15 after a 165 to 31 vote in the Pennsylvania House. The sick thing is that 32 minutes earlier a vote to declare the bill unconstitutional passed the House on a 128-68 vote. This means that 37 legislators ended up voting for a bill they had voted to be unconstitutional.

Bob Guzzardi of LibertyIndex.Com lists the bovine 39 as:

Republicans: Matthew Baker (Tioga), Kerry Benninghoff (Centre), Martin Causer (Bradford), Jim Christina (Beaver), Paul Clymer (Bucks), Gary Day (Berks), Sheryl Delozier (Cumberland), Garth Everett (Lycoming), Will Gabig (Cumberland), Matt Gabler (Elk), Mauree Gingrich (Lebanon), Glen Grell (Cumberland), Marcia Hahn (Northampton), Ted  Harhart (Fayette), Sue Helm (Dauphin), Tim Hennessy (Chester), Rob Kauffman (Cumberland), Mark Keller (Franklin), John Maher (Allegheny), Sandra Major (Susquehanna), Ron Marsico (Dauphin), Ron Miller (York), Dan Moul (Adams), John Payne (Dauphin), Tina Pickett (Bradford), Jeffrey Pyle (Armstrong), Thomas Quigley (Montgomery), Marguerite Quinn (Berks), Kathy Rapp (Forest), Dave Reed (Indiana), Doug Reichley (Lehigh), Todd Rock (Franklin), Curtis Sonney (Erie), Katie True (Lancaster), Randy Vulakovich (Allegheny) and Katherine Watson (Bucks).

Democrats:  Retiring Speaker of the House Keith McCall (Carbon), Dwight Evans (Philadelphia) and Brendan Boyle (Philadelphia).

HB 2497, which will certainly be signed by Gov. Rendell, bails out the Pennsylvania’s near bankrupt public pension system and was strongly supported by the Pennsylvania State Education Association and other public employee unions.

Is it stating the obvious to note that the very sweet legislative pensions are also saved by the bailout? What heroic public servants we have voted to represent us.

Commonwealth Foundation estimates that the bailout will cost the average homeowner $1,360 annually by 2012  in state and local taxes.

Will our state courts find the bill to be unconstitutional? People, the bill bailed out the judges’ pensions too.

HB 2497 Pension Bailout Unconstitutional

HB 2497 Pension Bailout Unconstitutional  -- HB 2497 aka  Gen Theft was sent to the governor's desk for a signature Nov. 15 after a 165 to 31

1 In 3 Need Gov Permission To Work

1 In 3 Need Gov Permission To Work — About 1 in 20 Americans needed government permission to work in the 1950s. Today it’s 1 in 3, according to Commonwealth Foundation. The loss of freedom comes from requirements for training, fees, licenses and other bits of red tape magic aimed at keeping the Dolores Umbridges of the world happily sipping their tea in bureaucratic positions of power.

A Illinois man, as a remembrance to a friend killed by a drunk driver, began offering tipsy bar patrons a free ride home. He was busted for “operating without a transportation service license” in a sting orchestrated by the local taxi drivers and the police.

In Pennsylvania, an ad hoc barter system popped in where residents gave rides in return for services to the Amish who have a religious prohibition against owning or driving a car.

The state’s Public Utilities Commission pushed  police to set up stake-outs to catch these violators of the requirement to have a transportation license.

It’s for our own good, of course.

“We are trying to protect the public interest and public safety,” a PUC spokeswoman said.

An excellent and scary article by  Katrina Currie of Commonwealth Foundation points out that an attempt was made by the Pennsylvania legislature this year to require a license for interior designers. What was the public safety issue? The danger of mauve rugs clashing with orange walls?

Ms. Currie notes that in 2008 the state sued a a mom for $10 million for selling items on eBay without an auctioneers license and that Philadelphia bloggers now must have a $300 business privilege license if they want to sell ads on their site.

A third of Americans need Big Brothers permission to work. Fighting to stop the encroachment is not enough. It’s time to start being a little like Harry Potter and start fighting to roll it back.

1 In 3 Need Gov Permission To Work

Quantitative Easing Explained

Quantitative Easing Explained — The-smarter-than-us set says these teddy bears in this YouTube video   just don’t get how our monetary system works. They insist that the fed isn’t printing money — merely buying back bonds from Goldman Sachs — and that we really are in a deflationary spiral. Really.

One is starting to suspect that our wizards of finance are more like the Wizard of Oz. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. Pay no attention to the price tag on the package of bagels. 


Quantitative Easing Explained

Coons Political Vengeance 2-1 Record

Coons Political Vengeance 2-1 RecordDelaware Democrat senate nominee Christopher Coons is 2-1 in lawsuits accusing him of taking political  vengeance regarding county employees  shortly after assuming the role of executive director of New Castle County in 2005.

Coons was named in lawsuits filed by Trinidad Navarro and Joseph Freeberry in 2005 and by Dennis E. Parkstone 3rd in 2007. All were supporters of Sherry Freeberry who Coons defeated in a contentious Democrat primary election in 2004.

Freeberry, Sherry’s brother, accused Coons of violating his civil rights after firing him as the general manager of the county’s Department of Special Services. Freeberry was appointed to the post in 1997 after serving 13 years as the county’s superintendent of parks. State law was changed in 1997 to provide the general manager slot with merit system protection. Coons began lobbying to change the law in 2003  and got Dover to do so in 2005 making the post one filled at the pleasure of the executive director.

At which point he gave Freeberry the option to retire, resign or be fired. Freeberry chose firing and sued. The federal courts ruled in favor of Coons.

Navarro was a corporal with the New Castle County Police Department. He accused Coons and others of failing to promote him to sergeant because he supported  Ms. Freeberry.

In 2007, the county settled with Navarro agreeing to pay him $100,000 plus $40,000 for legal fees and provide him with a $60,000 annuity fund to give him a sergeant’s retirement benefits.

Parkstone was a crew chief with the Deparement of Special Services and president of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Local 459. He also supported Ms. Freeberry. He sued after he was fired for allowing his computer at the union office to be used to view pornography and to send lewd emails. While an investigation revealed  the computer had been used to access porn websites on days when Parkstone was not there, it was determined that Parkstone had failed to properly secure his machine which is also a violation.

Parkstone’s initial discipline was a suspension providing he waive his right to file a grievance, which he waived. However, Parkstone became incensed upon learning that another employee who had been a Coons supporter and  was the source of the obscene emails was not going to be punished.

So Parkstone filed a grievance and was fired.

The Coons supporter did receive a five-day suspension after the grievance was filed.

The United States District Court for Delaware granted summary judgment to Coons in April 2009.

Coons Political Vengeance 2-1 Record

 

Karl Rove Gay Rumors And Christine O’Donnell

Karl Rove Gay Rumors and Christine O’Donnell — Republican political consultant Karl Rove on consecutive nights on Fox News Channel disparaged the character of his party’s nominee in the Delaware senate race.

After the primary polls closed two days ago and it became clear that Tea Party favorite Christine O’Donnell had beaten establishment choice Congressman Mike Castle for the nomination, a visibly upset Rove told Sean Hannity that she had “checkered background” and said “nutty things”.  He called her a liar and, most damningly if true, accused her of spreading false rumors about Castle’s sexuality.

The outrage from conservatives was thunderous and Rove felt obliged to appear last night on Greta van Susteren’s On The Record to clear things up.

Which he did by repeating his claim that O’Donnell had bad character, couldn’t win, et cetera, et cetera.

When Rove cited her financial difficulties with banks and the IRS as examples of this alleged bad character, Greta said those would be more likely to garner sympathy from the average Joe and Jane in these Obamanomic times.

Rove then again accused Christine of spreading false rumors of Castle’s sexuality. Greta agreed that this would be a sign of very bad character.

So, did she?

Apparently, Rove’s allegations are based on this video produced by sympathizers of O’Donnell, who had been former employees. Nobody has produced any smoking gun showing that Christine requested, approved or even knew about the production, and, in fact, she quickly denounced it calling it an insult to Castle and his wife.

“Former”, btw, Karl means “no longer”. You seem to be saying that  Christine letting go some consultants who were advocating questionable tactics is a sign of bad judgment and character.

Highly illogical, as Mr. Spock might say.

Christine would later accuse Castle of “unmanly” tactics and suggest that he get his “man-pants” on. Rove apparently equates this with making an accusation of having a homosexual affair.

Ibid. Mr. Spock

But lets turn the clock back to Y2K when then-Gov George Bush was having a toe-to-toe battle with Sen. John McCain for the GOP presidential nomination and supporters of Dubya distributed fliers alleging that McCain fathered a black child out-of-wedlock and committed treason by collaborating with his North Vietnamese captors.

Can’t get much lower than that, Karl.  You know anything about that? You aren’t projecting a little with Christine, here, are you?

Karl Rove Gay Rumors And Christine O’Donnell

Greg Skrepenak and His Luzerne County Crucifixion

Greg Skrepenak and His Luzerne County Crucifixion
Greg Skrepenak was warmly greeted when he appeared Sunday, two days after his sentencing, at the Festival and Flea Market at St. Mary’s Byzantine Catholic Church in Wilkes Barre. Parishioners offered him sympathy and support, and many expressed disgust at some of the things being said about him. With him is parish priest Father James Hayer.

The holy and sainted Democrats who run Pennsylvania’s Luzerne County drafted local sports legend and political neophyte Greg Skrepenak to run for county commissioner in 2003. He easily won as expected and was promptly named chairman of the board.

Skrepenak, known in the area as Skrep, won All-American honors in football and basketball at Wilkes Barre’s G.A.R. Memorial Junior Senior High School in the 1980s and was an MVP in baseball. Skrep went on to the University of Michigan were he became an All-American offensive lineman and was the Gator Bowl MVP in 1991. He went on to a respectable pro career with the Los Angeles and Oakland Raiders and the Carolina Panthers.

Skrep’s life was not a bed of roses, however. Personal issues led to his retirement from football. His wife had become addicted to drugs and he was raising by himself his daughter and two sons.

Skrep as commissioner did as he was told and in return was given rein to indulge his dreams of expanding services to those with drug problems and youth at risk.  He ran for re-election in 2007 and again easily won.

Maybe the most damning thing Skrep  did in his tenure as Democrat Party puppet was vote to use private detention centers for juveniles. These centers were paid on a per prisoner basis. This resulted in horrifying abuse. Kids who committed rather minor offenses were ordered incarcerated by judges who received kickbacks. Anyway, the sin was not the vote, as dumb as it may have been in hindsight, but the kickbacks and Skrep has not been connected to them in the slightest.

What Skrep was connected to was taking a $5,000 discount from the fellow who was building his condo, a fellow who then at Skrep’s behest received some sweet tax breaks from the county. Skrep initially denied seeing anything wrong in this. He thought the discount was due to friendship and said he would have pushed for a tax break for the fellow anyway because, well, he was his friend. Those who know him believe him. Skrep could safely be described as the dream commissioner for a Luzerne County party boss.

Anyway, a hungry federal prosecutor couldn’t resist such an easy chance to put a new head on the wall and Skrep was charged with bribery, a charge to which he would eventually plead guilty.

With the big man safely down, the local media jumped on him with both feet. Every word he uttered in his defense was questioned. His children were ridiculed. The references to his religion he made during his apology at his sentencing were mercilessly mocked.

U.S. District Judge Richard P. Conaboy gave him 24 months and those who leech pleasure from others’ pain gave themselves pats on the back.

Oh, if only Skrep had been a billionaire pedophile like Jeff Epstein for whom our courageous men and women in federal law enforcement managed to also get a two-year sentence. Then Skrep could have daily furloughs to his office for his first year and serve his second year under house arrest.

But the feds have their priorities, one guesses.

 

The Crucifixion Of Greg Skrepenak

 

Greg Skrepenak and His Luzerne County Crucifixion

 

The Crucifixion Of Greg Skrepenak

 

Greg Skrepenak and His Luzerne County Crucifixion

Jeff Epstein Iranian Pilgrims, Soulmates

Jeff Epstein Iranian Pilgrims, Soulmates — Pilgrims to the Imam Reza Shrine — one of Iran’s biggest tourist centers — are getting a special holy offer according to Planet-Iran .com, which is a website devoted to translating news and documents from Persian to English and letting the rest of us see for ourselves the bizarre world of the ayatollahs.

The document, dated July 18, offers, well, temporary marriages since “Marriage is among the traditions of the Prophet Mohammad” according to the Shrine’s “Bureau of Temporary Marriages”.

The temporary “marriages” are to females between the ages of  “12 and 35” and range in time from five hours to a whole 10 days. The shrinekeepers, of course, responsibly warn that for “sisters who are below 14 years of age, a written consent from their fathers or male guardians is required.”

Now, before you start reacting in rage and horror to this practice — especially if you should happen to be a Democrat voter — you ought to be aware of another recent event that you probably missed in the dino media.

Hedge-fund billionaire Jeff  Epstein became a free man earlier this month after serving an  25-month sentence in Palm Beach, Fla. for his  guilty plea  for “solicitation  prostitution”  and “soliciting a minor child for prostitution” which are state crimes. Michael Reiter, the man who was the police chief of Palm Beach during the investigation, was among those outraged at the deal since  what Epstein had been accused of was numerous sexual encounters with minor girls some of whom he imported from overseas including a trio of 12-year-olds from France. The federal  Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 demands a minimum sentence of 20 years for such things.

The feds, however, touched this case in the manner of a limo liberal removing a Baby Ruth candy bar from a country-club pool. That Jeff Epstein was close friends with and a major donor to Bill Clinton and a pre-disgraced Eliot Spitzer, and had gathered a legal team that included Alan Dershowitz, Roy Black and Kenneth Starr was merely incorrupt happenstance.

Sure.

That 25-month sentence, btw, included 12 months of house (mansion) arrest and 13 months in the county jail from which he was allowed to take daily field trips to his office.

Anyway, here’s a link to the Planet-Iran page containing the shrinekeepers’ offer in Persian if you should so desire to translate it yourself, and below will be the complete text in English.

And before you start hating the people of Iran — as many Arab Muslims do — know that those brave folk are in a near rebellion against their corrupt state, which is something else that is not being widely reported by the dinosaurs. The shopkeepers in the major bazaars continue their risky strikes and two major acts of sabotage have been made against the nation’s vital fossil fuel industry.

You certainly don’t see the Democrats rebelling against their perverse and totalitarian masters.

The shrinekeepers’ offer:

July 18, 2010

Bismellah al rahman a rahim

Temporary Marriage (Marriage is among the traditions of the Prophet Mohammad)

In order to elevate the spiritual atmosphere, create proper psychological conditions and tranquility of mind, the Province of the Quds’eh-Razavi of Khorassan has created centers for temporary marriage (just next door to the shrine) for those brothers who are on pilgrimage to the shrine of  our eighth Imam, Imam Reza, and who are far away from their spouses.

To that end, we call on all our sisters who are virgins, who are between the ages of 12 and 35 to cooperate with us. Each of our sisters who signs up will be bound by a two year contract with the province of the Quds’eh-Razavi of Khorassan and will be required to spend at least 25 days of each month temporarily married to those brothers who are on pilgrimage. The period of the contract will be considered as a part of the employment experience of the applicant. The period of each temporary marriage can be anywhere between 5 hours to 10 days. The prices are as follows:

* 5 hour temporary marriage – 50,000 Tomans ($50 US)
* One day temporary marriage – 75,000 Tomans ($75 US)
* Two day temporary marriage – 100,000 Tomans ($100 US)
* Three day temporary marriage – 150,000 Tomans ($150 US)
* Between 4 and 10 day temporary marriage – 300,000 Tomans ($300 US)

Our sisters who are virgins will receive a bonus of 100,000 Tomans ($100 US) for the removal of their hymen .

After the expiration of the two year contract, should our sisters still be under 35 years of age and should they be so inclined, they can be added to the waiting list of those who are seeking long-term temporary marriage. The employed sisters are obligated to donate 5% of their earnings to the Shrine of Imam Reza. We ask that all the sisters who are interested in applying, to furnish two full-length photographs (fully hijabed and properly veiled), their academic diplomas, proof of their virginity and a certificate of good physical and psychological health which they can obtain through the health and human services of the township of their residence. Please forward all compiled material and send to the below address by the 31st of the month of Ordibehesht, 1389 (May 21st, 2010).

Attention: For sisters who are below 14 years of age, a written consent from their fathers or male guardian is required.

Address: Mash’had, Shrine of Imam Reza, Shaheed Navab-Safavi, Kossar passage, Bureau of Temporary Marriages

or call Haji Mahmood Momtaz : 98/511/222-5790

For further information, please refer to the Quds’eh Razavi website.

Clearly, they don’t need Jeff Epstein to help them.

Jeff Epstein Iranian Pilgrims, Soulmates

Jeff Epstein Iranian Pilgrims, Soulmates

 

8 Years For Videotaping Outside Fed Courthouse?

8 Years For Videotaping Outside Fed Courthouse? — A libertarian activist who began videotaping when federal officers confronted his three-man group distributing fliers outside the federal courthouse in Allentown, Pa. has been charged with assaulting a court officer after he struggled to keep court officer Claire Burns and Deputy U.S. Marshal Enrique Trevino from taking his camera.

The incident began after Ms. Burns, who was part of a contingent of several officers, approached Julian Heicklen of Fully Informed Jury Association — a group that feels jurors are often not adequately aware of their powers and obligations under the Constitution — and Heicklen began to argue.

George Donnelly began videotaping the incident. Ms. Burns attempted to take his camera, Donnelly struggled to keep it and Trevino and other marshals came to her assistance.

Donnelly was arrested and charged. He was released on his own recognizance after spending two days in custody. He must remain in his home and wear an electronic bracelet until his May 25 hearing.

The charge comes with an eight-year jail sentence.

Here is the story from the The Morning Call of Allentown .

Here is the one from FIJA.

See if you can spot the differences.

8 Years For Videotaping Outside Fed Courthouse?