WALKING THE BEAT: Bashing Casey … For Nothing

As I write this column during Hurricane SANDY, I think of Romney’s joke at the GOP Convention where he said Obama was worried about the ocean’s rising…. HOW ABOUT those anti-BOB CASEY ads for Senate? One says Casey NEVER PASSED a bill. ??? He introduced bills. He cannot “pass” bills on his own. Another said it was up to Bob Casey to bring his party together to work with the GOP. Huh? We may have a case of CONSTITUTIONAL CONFUSION here.

City Council President DARRELL CLARKE was a VIP guest at the 43rd Ward Fish Fry in Erie Avenue. Clarke enjoys his Council top job, and it may be true that he has no mayoral ambition. DAVID OH spoke out in Council on Veteran activities last week, as the only Council member who served in the military. BILL GREEN lost another aide, as aide de camp Sophia Bryer, Esq. moved on to a School District job. Best wishes.

To read in the daily press of Judge Tom NOCELLA’S being used to drumbeat Merit Selection is playing the same old tune. Nocella seems to be the second jurist to upset the Bar Assn. I recently attended a hearing against another jurist. It read that voters are in the weakest position to distinguish among judicial candidates. If voters are in this situation, then the same media may have FAILED in informing them. This is insulting to voters and the FOUNDING FATHERS. Most of the time Merit Selection is never heard of. When an opportunity arises to strike, they do. “Up in the garret away from the din, someone (Merit Selection) is playing that old violin.” These SURGICAL STRIKES must be discussed at wine and cheese parties. The Committee of SEVENTY chief discussed the City Council Sergeants at Arms. There are five of them, earning a total of $160k per year. Or $32k each. Does not the SEVENTY chief alone earn about $160k? The five sergeants also pay real-estate tax in Philly…. DOES ANYONE KNOW what the conviction rate is at the Bureau of Administrative Adjudication? Could it be close to 100% of all parking citations written? Do they also have a book of answers in training and during hearings – for whatever you say in your defense???

GOP TYPES OF RAPE DEFINED (?): A funny (is it really funny) email shows quotes of GOP office-seekers/holders on rape defined. They types shown are Gift from God, Legitimate Rape, Honest Rape, Emergency Rape, Easy Rape, Forcible, and Enjoyable…. ONE GOP story says ending wars in IRAQ and Afghanistan won’t free up money. It won’t? That is $10B a month (on a slow war month) that we won’t have to set aside for war. That we won’t have to borrow from China. Or can be used for OUR PEOPLE and OUR COUNTRY. What brand of cigarettes do these folks smoke? Another GOP point made is that we are doing little for SYRIA. This soldier of 24 years knows (1) we should not send troops into an urban-war quagmire (our war-weary citizens will never allow it); (2) we should not set up a “No-fly” Zone over Syria, which has the finest air defense in the world (North Korea is second); (3) with so many TALIBAN fighting the Afghan government – our help would deliver the country to them. It is best to find a trustworthy person in their army or palace to take to leader out of office.

AFTER THE ELECTION, the Economy should open up – whoever wins, as uncertainty over America’s course will end. GOP bankers will lend money, knowing they have to live with Obama for four years. Businesses will hire again, and gas prices should go down. But the LAME-DUCK Congress will have much to do and AGREE upon, in a short time, to prevent a recession with worldwide effects. OBAMACARE is partly in force and can click in seamlessly – except for the employer portion, which needs slight adjustment. A HOME DESTROYED is best rebuilt from the ground up, not the roof down. If you spend more than you make, the recovery is long and slow. The nation has been in paralysis. The GOP members of House and Senate were to be a check and balance. Instead, they were a rigid, uncompromising opposition, earning a 9% popularity rate. Patriotism is not that. It is about the “we” and compromise to keep the government operating and the nation growing. In 1860, we had two countries (of opinion). We seem there again? The best way to vote is to give the winner a MANDATE by giving the President sufficient HOUSE and SENATE members to press forward and lead the land that WE ALL LOVE.

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