News, Entertainment, Enlightenment
A study by the University of Minnesota shows that President Barack Obama has made more than four times as many “remarks” on foreign soil than he has in states that did not vote for them. So much for being a uniter not a divider.
Hopefully, next time Pennsylvania declines to vote for the Young Man From Wherever and he stops pestering us with his presence.
Albert Snyder of York, Pa. lost his son Matthew, a Marine lance corporal, in Iraq on March 3, 2006. Matthew was 20. Matthew’s funeral was held seven days later at St. John’s Catholic Church in Westminster, Md., where he grew up.
A Kansas-based religious cult called the Westboro Baptist Church, most of whose 60 or so members are related to founder Fred Phelps by either blood or marriage, hates America because it perceives it as being overly tolerant of homosexuals. It has taken to picketing the funerals of military personnel with signs saying things such as “You’re going to hell,” “God hates you,” “Semper fi fags,” and “Thank God for dead soldiers.”
One of the funerals they picketed was Matthew’s. They then posted video of what they did on their web site.
Snyder sued Phelps, the church and other church leaders that June in U.S. District Court alleging state law tort claims of defamation, intrusion upon seclusion, publicity given to private life, civil conspiracy and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Judge Richard Bennett, a Bush 43 appointee, threw out the claims of defamation and publicity given to private life but held the others for trial.
During the trial Snyder testified “I think about the sign (Thank God for dead soldiers) every day of my life. . . . I see that sign when I lay in bed at nights. I (had) one chance to bury my son and they took the dignity away from it. I cannot re-bury my son. And for the rest of my life, I will remember what they did to me and it has tarnished the memory of my son’s last hour on earth.”
“Somebody could have stabbed me in the arm or in the back and the wound would have healed,” he said. “But I don’t think this will heal.”
He appeared visibly shaken and was often reduced to tears.
On Oct. 31, 2007, the jury ruled for Snyder awarding him $2.9 million in compensatory damages and $8 million in punitive damages.
Well, Phelps crew appealed and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit after deciding that the First Amendment gave one the right to intrude on funerals and mock the grieving, on Friday, it not just merely overturned the jury verdict but ordered Snyder to pay $16,500 in legal fees to Phelps.
The case has been appealed to the Supreme Court.
In case, you happen to think Westboro Baptist Church is some kind of conservative organization, well, Phelps and his mob are Democrats.
In fact, Phelps Jr. hosted Al Gore at his home for a fundraiser and was a Gore delegate to the 1988 Democratic National Convention.
Congressman Chris Carney, who represents Pennsylvania’s 10th District, made his first visit to the district since his vote to socialize our health care system, throwing pieces of silver at favored organizations in a way he hoped might redeem himself in the eyes of his constituents.
In the end, though, the “pro life” Democrat is likely to hang himself on the vote.
He made a rather whiny challenge to Sarah Palin and the Tea Party groups to visit Northeast Pennsylvania after they swarmed Searchlight, Nev., the hometown of socialist Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and she announced on Facebook that Carney’s seat was in her crosshairs.
That apparently frightened Carney who did not, strangely, express any concern regarding President Obama’s direction that “if they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun” given in Philadelphia on June 13, 2008 while a candidate as was pointed out by David Madeira who is among those seeking the GOP nomination for Pa10.
Carney ought to be putting his effort into keeping Nancy Pelosi out of the 10th District, someone who is hopefully going to be brought up on a consistent basis by either Madeira, Malcolm Derk or Tom Marino this summer and fall.
Hat tip to GrassrootsPa.Com
The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons has become the first medical society to sue to overturn the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The suit was filed Friday in the U.S.District Court for the District of Columbia.
“There will be a dire
shortage of physicians if the PPACA becomes effective and is not
overturned by the courts,” said Jane Orient, M.D. the Association’s executive director.The Association claims the law violates the Tenth Amendment, the Commerce Clause, and the provisions
authorizing taxation. The Taxing and Spending power cannot be invoked,
as the premiums go to private insurance companies.
The Association also points out that in
scoring the proposal the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) was bound by
assumptions imposed by Congress, including the ability to “save” $500 billion in Medicare, and to redirect $50 billion from Social Security. HHS Secretary
Kathleen Sebelius stated that PPACA would reduce the federal deficit, knowing the
opposite to be true if these assumptions are unrealistic, the Association says.
Hat tip to FreeRepublic .Com and the Washington Times.
In a related matter HotAir.Com is reporting that the Democrats are livid that insurance companies have begun pointing out that children with pre-existing conditions are not covered by the bill.
This was one badly written piece of legislation.
Neither Republican candidate had a problem releasing their income tax returns to the Philadelphia Inquirer as reported in yesterday’s story, and while Democrats Jack Wagner and Joe Hoeffel released their 1040s both balked at releasing supplementary forms.
Democrats Dan Onorato, the Allegheny County executive and State Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams, who represents the 8th District which includes large parts of southwest Philadelphia and southeast Delaware County, did not release their forms although they both said they eventually will.
Republican Tom Corbett and wife, Susan, made $215,568 in 2008 almost all of it from his salary of $145,529 as auditor general and her salary as vice president for development at the Gettysburg Foundation which works to preserve the battlefield. They gave $3,270 to charity.
Republican Sam Rohrer and wife, Ruth Ann, earned $83,650 in 2008 most of it from his $71,112 in salary as state representative for the 128th District, making him by far the lowest-earner on the ballot. The Rohrers are also the most generous reporting $16,187 in charitable donations in 2008. Other 2008 income for the couple showed $17,213 in capital gains from the sale of a family farm and $1,012 in dividends and interest.
Wagner and wife, Nancy, showed an income of $132,548 in 2008. Wagner, the state auditor general, has a salary of $141,565 put retirement contributions put his reported income as less. The form he provided showed no charitable giving
Hoeffel and wife, Francesca, a nurse, reported $156,630 in income in 2008. Hoeffel was paid $86,000 by Montgomery County where he serves as a county commissioner. The returns also showed $12,499 in tax-exempt interest and $1,145 in dividends. As noted, he declined to provide information as to the source of the investment revenue. The Hoeffels reported giving $3.958 to charity in 2008.
New York Times Lies About Pope — I guess it’s a sign of the Times. The self-esteemed Grey Lady, that paper that likes to bill itself as America’s paper of record appears to have been caught in blatant falsehoods regarding Pope Benedict XVI’s involvement in the priest pedophilia coverup.
Father Raymond J. de Souza, a chaplain at Queen’s University in Ontario, spells it out.
The New York Times on March 25 accused Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, of intervening to prevent a priest, Father Lawrence Murphy, from facing penalties for cases of sexual abuse of minors.
The story is false. It is unsupported by its own documentation. Indeed, it gives every indication of being part of a coordinated campaign against Pope Benedict, rather than responsible journalism.
Before addressing the false substance of the story, the following circumstances are worthy of note:
• The New York Times story had two sources. First, lawyers who currently have a civil suit pending against the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. One of the lawyers, Jeffrey Anderson, also has cases in the United States Supreme Court pending against the Holy See. He has a direct financial interest in the matter being reported.
• The second source was Archbishop Rembert Weakland, retired archbishop of Milwaukee. He is the most discredited and disgraced bishop in the United States, widely known for mishandling sexual-abuse cases during his tenure, and guilty of using $450,000 of archdiocesan funds to pay hush money to a former homosexual lover who was blackmailing him. Archbishop Weakland had responsibility for the Father Murphy case between 1977 and 1998, when Father Murphy died. He has long been embittered that his maladministration of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee earned him the disfavor of Pope John Paul II and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, long before it was revealed that he had used parishioners’ money to pay off his clandestine lover. He is prima facie not a reliable source.
• Laurie Goodstein, the author of the New York Times story, has a recent history with Archbishop Weakland. Last year, upon the release of the disgraced archbishop’s autobiography, she wrote an unusually sympathetic story that buried all the most serious allegations against him (New York Times, May 14, 2009).
• A demonstration took place in Rome on Friday, coinciding with the publication of the New York Times story. One might ask how American activists would happen to be in Rome distributing the very documents referred to that day in the New York Times. The appearance here is one of a coordinated campaign, rather than disinterested reporting.
It’s possible that bad sources could still provide the truth. But compromised sources scream out for greater scrutiny. Instead of greater scrutiny of the original story, however, news editors the world over simply parroted the New York Times piece. Which leads us the more fundamental problem: The story is not true, according to its own documentation.
The New York Times made available on its own website the supporting documentation for the story. In those documents, Cardinal Ratzinger himself does not take any of the decisions that allegedly frustrated the trial. Letters are addressed to him; responses come from his deputy. Even leaving that aside, though, the gravamen of the charge — that Cardinal Ratzinger’s office impeded some investigation — is proven utterly false.
The documents show that the canonical trial or penal process against Father Murphy was never stopped by anyone. In fact, it was only abandoned days before Father Murphy died. Cardinal Ratzinger never took a decision in the case, according to the documents. His deputy, Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone, suggested, given that Father Murphy was in failing health and a canonical trial is a complicated matter, that more expeditious means be used to remove him from all ministry.
To repeat: The charge that Cardinal Ratzinger did anything wrong is unsupported by the documentation on which the story was based. He does not appear in the record as taking any decision. His office, in the person of his deputy, Archbishop Bertone, agreed that there should be full canonical trial. When it became apparent that Father Murphy was in failing health, Archbishop Bertone suggested more expeditious means of removing him from any ministry.
Furthermore, under canon law at the time, the principal responsibility for sexual-abuse cases lay with the local bishop. Archbishop Weakland had from 1977 onwards the responsibility of administering penalties to Father Murphy. He did nothing until 1996. It was at that point that Cardinal Ratzinger’s office became involved, and it subsequently did nothing to impede the local process.
The New York Times flatly got the story wrong, according to its own evidence. Readers may want to speculate on why.
Here is the relevant timeline, drawn from the documents the New York Times posted on its own website.
15 May 1974
Abuse by Father Lawrence Murphy is alleged by a former student at St. John’s School for the Deaf in Milwaukee. In fact, accusations against Father Murphy go back more than a decade.
12 September 1974
Father Murphy is granted an official “temporary sick leave” from St. John’s School for the Deaf. He leaves Milwaukee and moves to northern Wisconsin, in the Diocese of Superior, where he lives in a family home with his mother. He has no official assignment from this point until his death in 1998. He does not return to live in Milwaukee. No canonical penalties are pursued against him.
9 July 1980
Officials in the Diocese of Superior write to officials in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee about what ministry Father Murphy might undertake in Superior. Archbishop Rembert Weakland, archbishop of Milwaukee since 1977, has been consulted and says it would be unwise to have Father Murphy return to ministry with the deaf community. There is no indication that Archbishop Weakland foresees any other measures to be taken in the case.
17 July 1996
More than 20 years after the original abuse allegations, Archbishop Weakland writes to Cardinal Ratzinger, claiming that he has only just discovered that Father Murphy’s sexual abuse involved the sacrament of confession — a still more serious canonical crime. The allegations about the abuse of the sacrament of confession were in the original 1974 allegations. Weakland has been archbishop of Milwaukee by this point for 19 years.
It should be noted that for sexual-abuse charges, Archbishop Weakland could have proceeded against Father Murphy at any time. The matter of solicitation in the sacrament of confession requir
ed notifying Rome, but that too could have been done as early as the 1970s.
10 September 1996
Father Murphy is notified that a canonical trial will proceed against him. Until 2001, the local bishop had authority to proceed in such trials. The Archdiocese of Milwaukee is now beginning the trial. It is noteworthy that at this point, no reply has been received from Rome indicating that Archbishop Weakland knew he had that authority to proceed.
24 March 1997
Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone, Cardinal Ratzinger’s deputy at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, advises a canonical trial against Father Murphy.
14 May 1997
Archbishop Weakland writes to Archbishop Bertone to say that the penal process against Father Murphy has been launched, and notes that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has advised him to proceed even though the statute of limitations has expired. In fact, there is no statute of limitations for solicitation in the sacrament of confession.
Throughout the rest of 1997 the preparatory phases of penal process or canonical trial is underway. On 5 January 1998 the Tribunal of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee says that an expedited trial should be concluded within a few months.
12 January 1998
Father Murphy, now less than eight months away from his death, appeals to Cardinal Ratzinger that, given his frail health, he be allowed to live out his days in peace.
6 April 1998
Archbishop Bertone, noting the frail health of Father Murphy and that there have been no new charges in almost 25 years, recommends using pastoral measures to ensure Father Murphy has no ministry, but without the full burden of a penal process. It is only a suggestion, as the local bishop retains control.
13 May 1998
The Bishop of Superior, where the process has been transferred to and where Father Murphy has lived since 1974, rejects the suggestion for pastoral measures. Formal pre-trial proceedings begin on 15 May 1998, continuing the process already begun with the notification that had been issued in September 1996.
30 May 1998
Archbishop Weakland, who is in Rome, meets with officials at the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, including Archbishop Bertone but not including Cardinal Ratzinger, to discuss the case. The penal process is ongoing. No decision taken to stop it, but given the difficulties of a trial after 25 years, other options are explored that would more quickly remove Father Murphy from ministry.
19 August 1998
Archbishop Weakland writes that he has halted the canonical trial and penal process against Father Murphy and has immediately begun the process to remove him from ministry — a quicker option.
21 August 1998
Father Murphy dies. His family defies the orders of Archbishop Weakland for a discreet funeral
Convanta, the operators of the Harrisburg city incinerator, has been told by city officials that the Harrisburg will not pay the $600,000 debt payment due in April, according to City Council member Patty Kim. 
It has been speculated that the city will sell parkland and museums to make the payments.
Rohrer Doesn’t Roar But . . .
By Bill Lawrence
Sam Rohrer took his underdog gubernatorial campaign to the auditorium of the Delaware County Christian School in Newtown Square Pa., Friday night. He spoke for about an hour and a half to crowd of about 50 then gave detailed answers to any and all questions, then mingled in the lobby with those attending.
His talk was dry, in fact it was often downright dull, but the details he provided — whether on budgetary, educational, constitutional or on energy matters — were done extemporaneously and effortlessly, and with respect to cold reality. For any Obama fans reading this, that means there were no teleprompters. Rohrer very well might be what Pennsylvania is looking for right now.
Rohrer, who represents the 128th District in the State House and is Republican chairman of the House’s Finance Committee, is challenging party-endorsed Tom Corbett, the state attorney general, for the Republican nomination. The primary election is May 18.
After introducing his wife, Ruth Ann, and his two youngest sons — the Rohrers have three other sons and a daughter — Rohrer gave the audience a dose of cold water.
“The challenges facing the next governor will be the greatest in Commonwealth history,” he said. He noted the state is nearing bankruptcy and is expected to take in $4 billion less than the $28 billion it has budgeted. He also pointed out the looming pension crisis.
He said the budget crisis could be traced to the Casey administration when a choice was made to deal with a budget deficit by increasing spending and for which we now must pay.
He then noted that Pennsylvania is a horrible place to start a business.
“We are not unfriendly to business but downright hostile,” he said.
Rohrer said The Keystone State’s business problems come down to taxes, regulations and labor. He said Pennsylvania has the highest business taxes in the nation. He said, in fact, that if the state were a nation it would have the highest business taxes in the world.
With regard to regulations, he said the state regulators go out of their way to place obstacles in front of entrepreneurs. He said a permit for a new coal mine that cost $1,000 a few decades back was now six figures. He, said, however that was easiest problem to fix due to the regulatory outlook largely being the result of direction set by the governor.
He said biggest hurdle for business was the labor environment. Pennsylvania is a “union shop” state which means that all employees at a business with a union must pay dues to the union. Rohrer said Pennsylvania is losing jobs yearly to “right to work” states such as North Carolina that don’t have that requirement.
Rohrer supports the state’s Open Workforce initiative that was introduced in the legislator in November.
In the good news department, Rohrer brought up the natural gas waiting to be tapped in the Marcellus Shale, which cover a good part of the state. He said it has not been widely reported but an additional layer has been found in the formation which possibly doubles the amount of gas it holds. He said some now estimate it as meeting the nations energy needs for the next 100 years.
Rohrer’s next topic was education and property taxes which fund most of Pennsylvania’s public schools. He said he was the author of Educational Improvement Tax Credit Program which he describes as the most successful school choice program in the country and provides assistance to 50,000 children a year. He wants it expanded.
Rohrer said that 30 percent of the school districts in the state are insolvent.
Regarding the property tax, Rohrer wants to get rid of it.
“How many of you own your home?” he asked the audience. “I used to think I did too.”
Rohrer said the property tax is among the cruelest tax and disproportionately affects the poor. He said that 70 percent of those below the poverty line in Pennsylvania are home owners. If they fail to pay their taxes for two straight years the state is likely to take their home.
If you want to see what your child’s teacher made in 2009, btw, visit here.
Rohrer’s plan is to replace the property tax by expanding the sales tax to things such as labor; getting fees from Macellus Shale; and casino money. He noted that food and utilities would remain exempt and the tax would remain at 6 percent.
He noted he could easily cut each department in the state budget by 10 percent to more than cover any left over shortfall.
Rohrer final, and maybe most important, point involved ethics. He said the mistrust many hold for government comes from their elected officials unwillingness to tell the truth and to humbly consider themselves as public servants.
Corbett ought to keep his eye on the rear-view mirror. Rohrer is clearly playing to win and is getting a lot of help from the Tea Party groups.
“Seventy percent of those polled said they would support a Tea Party endorsed candidate over a party-endorsed candidate,” Rohrer said.
Long-time Delaware County activist Rick Lacy backed up that point when he introduced him.
“This year for the first time in 25 years of being involved in politics, I will not be voting for the lesser of two evils,” he said.
Rohrer was scheduled for a stop in Scotland, Pa. in Franklin County. 9 a.m., Saturday.
Things that you may not have seen in the local media:
The amendments to Obamacare approved by the House of Representatives yesterday in a 220-207 vote includes ending government subsidies to banks for making student loans giving all lending responsibilities to the federal government. Do you think the feds are going to be as diligent as the banks in chasing down deadbeats and who will have to cover the uncollected debt?
Guillermo Zuloaga, the owner of Globovision, Venezuela’s only remaining TV channel that takes a critical line against President Hugo Chavez was arrested Thursday and charged with making remarks “offensive” to the president. Will any prominent Democrat speak out against this?
Oh yeah, and North Korea has threatened nuclear strikes on South Korea and the United States and has apparently just sunk a South Korean ship.
I watched SEPTA tractors drag a length of rail that was a few hundred yards long from the direction of Media towards 69th Street over the Route 101 trolley tracks. Traffic was stopped for several minutes at Springfield Road and, I suspect, at other crossings. The rail was clearly used but If I understood the workmen right it will be replace some rail near Burmont Road in Upper Darby.
They said the trolleys won’t be running until August.
I have been hearing great things about the drivers of the buses that are being used to fill in for the trolleys, and say what you want the buses are a heck of a lot quieter.