Free Republic

Two former Philadelphia funeral directors on Tuesday admitted to selling cadavers to a ring that cut them up and sold the body parts to hospitals for implants. Gerald Garzone and his brother Louis Garzone pleaded guilty to charges that they conspired with others to take bones, skin and organs from 244 bodies in their funeral homes between February 2004 and September 2005. They were part of a scheme that plundered 1,077 bodies in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania without the permission of relatives in an operation that netted the conspirators $3.8 million. One of the bodies belonged to Alistair...

Fatimah Ali: We need Obama, not 4 more years of George Bush By Fatimah Ali Philadelphia Daily News AMERICA is on the brink of a long, harsh and bitterly cold winter, with a looming recession that the GOP won't even admit to. The policies of the current White House have brutalized our economy, yet the wealthiest think that everything is fine. Rich Republicans just don't understand that millions are suffering. But many of their working class do, and they're beginning to abandon their own party. When lifelong Republican Barney Smith told the Democratic convention that he'd vote for Barack Obama...

Pentagon Makes Fighting Extremism Top Priority Seven years after the Sept. 11 attacks, the Pentagon on Thursday officially named "the long war" against global extremism as its top priority and pledged to avert any conventional military threat from China or Russia through dialogue. The Defense Department, in a new national defense strategy, also emphasized the need to subordinate military operations to "soft power" initiatives to undermine Islamist militancy by promoting economic, political and social development in vulnerable corners of the world. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he hoped the change would help establish permanent institutional support for counterinsurgency skills...

*BREAKING* Lawsuit Being Filed Today in Philadelphia *MEDIA ALERT* [Update] August 21, 2008 I have just received word that a lawsuit will be filed today in Federal Court challenging Barack Obama’s qualifications to be President. I am told that ALL MEDIA should report to the U.S. District Courthouse in Philadelphia in approximately one hour. US District Court, Eastern District of PA 601 Market Street Philadelphia, PA 19106-1797 Ph: 215-597-7704 It is currently 3:30 PM EST. UPDATE: The motion will be for an emergency temporary restraining order prohibiting Obama from running for president, and enjoining the DNC from nominating Obama as...

Parents Of Starved Teen Suing City OfficialsPHILADELPHIA (CBS3/AP) ― The parents charged along with city workers in the starvation death of a bedridden teenager have sued Philadelphia officials in her death. A prosecutor blasts Andrea and Daniel Kelly for trying to profit from their daughter's August 2006 death. Andrea Kelly is charged with murder in the death of her 14-year-old daughter, Danieal, who suffered from malnutrition and severe bedsores. The father, Daniel Kelly, is charged with endangerment. Kelly, who suffered from cerebral palsy, was found starved to death in a sweltering, filthy West Philadelphia home in August 2006. "It's absurd,...

A kick butt response to Philadelphia's Northeast Time's love note to IVAW:The July 24 cover story A battle cry to end the war by staff writer Jon Campisi is a flattering account of the anti-war group Iraq Veterans Against the War, which lacked a great deal of critical information needed for the Northeast Times readers to reach an informed opinion of the group, its origin, efforts and goals. Though Campisi noted that the Iraq Veterans Against the War were formed under the patronage of the Veterans For Peace, unexamined is who are the Veterans For Peace (VFP). The leadership of...

Starved, disabled girl was failed at every turn By KATHY MATHESON, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 2 minutes ago PHILADELPHIA - For days before Danieal Kelly died in a fetid, airless room — made stifling hot by a midsummer heat wave — the bedridden teenager begged for something to drink until she could muster only one word: water. ADVERTISEMENT Unable to help herself because of her cerebral palsy, she wasted away from malnutrition and maggot-infested bedsores that ate her flesh. She died alone on a putrid mattress in her mother's home, the floor covered in feces. She was 14 but...

It's 6 a.m. in Rittenhouse Square, one of Philadelphia's most elegant parks. As the sun rises, its overnight summer residents - more than two dozen homeless men and women - are asleep on benches. --snip-- And while homeless people say they like the comforts of the high-end neighborhood, the Rittenhouse Square residents, managers of nearby businesses, and Fairmount Park Commission employees who maintain the grounds complain that the resulting problems have gotten worse this summer, making their jobs and neighborhood life more difficult

If there's one thing you have to give Philadelphia's leaders credit for achieving, it's consistency. Under the "leadership" of every mayor and city council going back decades, the city has seen its population plummet, and with it, our prospects for growth and world-class status. Consider these gems: Between 2000 and 2007, Philadelphia lost 4.5 percent of its residents, the largest percentage drop of any Top 25 city. As far as actual numbers, the only city which lost more people in that span was New Orleans, and I think the Big Easy had a weather-related incident which prompted that city's mass...

By now, many conservatives have heard of the Canadian Human Rights Commissions thanks to the decision by three CHRCs to investigate hate crimes complaints against Maclean’s magazine for printing -- among other things -- excerpts from conservative writer Mark Steyn’s book, America Alone. While two of the complaints against Maclean’s have been dismissed, the CHRCs continue their jihad against their fellow citizens who dare to offend certain protected minorities. One of their ongoing cases is the investigation of a newspaper for publishing a cartoon of a Muslim woman dressed in a burqa even though the woman does, in fact, wear...

One signed all three bulwarks of the Republic. The other was second only to James Madison as the architect of the Constitution. Robert Morris and James Wilson were two of the most important, yet least publicized, of the Founding Fathers. Why has Philadelphia not commemorated some of its most important citizens? Wilson was according to American Heritage magazine, one of the most underrated Americans in history. Historian Gary Wills wrote, "A signer of the Declaration, a principal drafter of the Federal Constitution, the principal ratifier, and the profoundest theorist of it, Wilson is the least known of the Founding Fathers."...

Arlington, Va—May the city of Philadelphia subject tour guides to hundreds of dollars in fines for engaging in unauthorized talking? This is the question the Institute for Justice (IJ) seeks to answer in a federal lawsuit filed today, two days before Philadelphia celebrates the signing of the Declaration of Independence, in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The suit is brought on behalf of three Philadelphia tour guides—Mike Tait, Josh Silver and Ann Boulais—seeking to overturn a law enacted in April that will make it illegal for anyone like them to give a tour of much of the city’s downtown area...

The Americans Who Risked Everything My father, Rush H. Limbaugh, Jr., delivered this oft-requested address locally a number of times, but it had never before appeared in print until it appeared in The Limbaugh Letter. My dad was renowned for his oratory skills and for his original mind; this speech is, I think, a superb demonstration of both. I will always be grateful to him for instilling in me a passion for the ideas and lives of America's Founders, as well as a deep appreciation for the inspirational power of words which you will see evidenced here: "Our Lives, Our...

Philadelphia has one of the most backward and incompetent city governments in America. It suffers from a combination of failed civic institutions, a deeply embedded racial paranoia that undermines law enforcement, and a local culture that has come to shrug at the urban chaos this produces. In 2006, the one-or-two-a-day-and a-dozen-on-weekends murder spree that earned "Killadelphia" its rap as an urban abattoir resulted in 406 people dead. It's clearly not all about poverty. Miami, America's poorest major city, saw 79 homicides in all of 2006. In March 2006, more Americans died violently on the streests of Philadelphia than in Iraq...

Does anybody think that the new mayor will keep his campaign promise about initiating action to stop the horrendous murder rate in Philly? Follow this link: http://www.thebulletin.us/site/news.cfm?newsid=19779492&BRD=2737&PAG=461&dept_id=580169&rfi=6

PHILADELPHIA — Five teenagers fatally beat a man on a subway platform after a friend dared them to hit someone, saying "next person we see we're going to hit," one of the defendants allegedly told police. "We all didn't want to seem like no punk," Ameer Best, 17, told police in a written statement read at a preliminary hearing Wednesday for Best and four co-defendants. Best and the other teens, Kinta Stanton, Arthur Alston, Rasheem Bell and Nashir Fisher, all 16, will be tried as adults on charges of third-degree murder and conspiracy for the March 26 beating, Municipal Court...

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain is scheduled to give what his campaign is calling a major policy address Wednesday in Philadelphia. Details of the visit are sketchy. The campaign would not confirm a time or talk about the subject matter of the speech, which is set to take place at the National Constitution Center. It's also unclear if the event will be open to the public. The visit is fresh evidence of the emphasis McCain's campaign is putting on Pennsylvania, traditionally a general election battleground. McCain is slated to return to the state June 30 for a fundraiser and...

CBS3 anchor Larry Mendte opened former colleague Alycia Lane's private e-mail account hundreds of times over many months, sources told The Inquirer yesterday, and the FBI is investigating whether he passed on gossip about Lane to the media. In part, federal officials are trying to determine whether Mendte intercepted communication between Lane and her lawyers about her lawsuit against CBS3, which fired her in January. Investigators have confirmed that Mendte viewed Lane's Yahoo account, sources said. Now, the sources said, investigators are combing through the e-mails he allegedly opened to see if the content can be correlated with embarrassing leaks...

Letters: Why protests over beating, but not shooting? Four police officers are out of their jobs - and rightly so ("Four Officers Fired In Police Beating," May 20). I wonder, though, if the three accused shooting suspects will ever face any penalty for their actions. Lots of people turned out to protest the beating of these three "gentlemen," but somehow the shooting that prompted the whole thing didn't merit even the attendance in court of the witnesses to the shooting of the suspects' three alleged victims. Perhaps the police should be kept out of some of these neighborhoods, so that...

Inquirer Photo Mayor Nutter this morning said the National Rifle Association owed an apology to the family of slain police officer Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski. Nutter recently signed five local gun bills into law, including one that would outlaw the possession and sale of certain assault weapons. The NRA immediately sued the city on the grounds that the city does not have the authority to enact local gun control. They obtained a temporary restraining order to keep the city from enforcing the new laws. Liczbinski was killed with a Chinese-made assault weapon. "I think it's insane," Nutter said. "The fact that...

PHILADELPHIA -- Philadelphia's police commissioner said Monday that four officers will be fired and four others disciplined for their roles in the beatings of three shooting suspects, an encounter that was captured on videotape and drew widespread outrage. Another eight officers who had physical contact with the suspects will undergo additional training on the department's policies concerning the use of force, Commissioner Charles Ramsey said. He said the police department made the disciplinary decisions after reviewing frames from enhanced tape of a video shot by a television news helicopter on May 5. The video, shot by WTXF-TV, shows the suspects...

Saturday, May 3: A Philadelphia police officer, Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski, is shot and killed with a semiautomatic weapon while responding to reports of a bank robbery in the city’s Port Richmond section. Liczbinski is the second officer shot in the city this year, and the third in the last two years. Monday, May 5: About a dozen Philadelphia police officers, less than 24 hours into the manhunt for the third and final suspect in the Liczbinski shooting, beat three suspects who had been fleeing the scene of an unrelated murder. The entire incident happens to be caught on tape by...

Days after a Philadelphia police sergeant was killed with a semi-automatic rifle, Mayor Nutter and Gov. Rendell called upon Congress to enact a new federal assault-weapons ban that would remove such weapons from the streets."The time has come for politicians to decide," said Rendell at the City Hall news conference attended by top police brass and state elected officials. "You have to decide whether you're on their side - the men and women who wear blue - or whether you're on the side of the gun lobby."The federal assault-weapons ban, which lasted from 1994 through 2004, outlawed an array of...

http://www.philly.com/philly/polls/18765614.html One week ago Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski was shot at least 5 times with an AK-47 by a trio of bank robbers fleeing the scene of their crime. One of the three was later killed by Police gunfire; the other two have been apprehended. Sgt. Liczbinski was laid to rest yesterday. http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/20080509_Sgt__Liczbinski_mourned_at_Cathedral.html

Police: Gun At Officer Shooting Scene Traced To Duncannon Man HARRISBURG, Pa. -- A gun sold in Harrisburg for drugs wound up in Philadelphia, where it was found at the scene of a fatal shooting of a police officer, officials said. Police said Levi Swigart, 19, of Duncannon, Perry County, told them he sold the .22-caliber revolver to buy crack from a man at a convenience store along Cameron Street in Harrisburg. Swigart's mother reported the gun stolen in February. The same gun was found at the scene where Philadelphia police officer Steven Liczbinski was shot and killed over the...

As the reward for the third suspect in the weekend slaying of Philadelphia Police Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski grew yesterday to more than $123,000, authorities intensified their wide-reaching dragnet for a man they called "armed and dangerous." Police pursued leads from Lancaster, Pa., to Newark, N.J., in search of 33-year-old Eric DeShann Floyd, who they say was the "muscle" in a trio that on Saturday robbed a Port Richmond bank and then killed the pursuing sergeant. But investigators believed Floyd, a convicted armed robber who in February escaped from a Reading halfway house, most likely was still hiding in Philadelphia. Police...

A Philadelphia police officer was shot and killed with a military assault rifle late this morning when he confronted at least two robbers who had just held up an Bank of America branch at a Shoprite supermarket in Port Richmond. --snip--- a police spokesman, described one as a man wearing “Muslim garb” and carrying a shoulder bag. He said that a second, who might have been a woman, was wearing “light brown Muslim garb.” A third possible robber, a man, was described as having worn a “dreadlock wig” and a “construction mask.” He had on blue jeans and a flannel...

PHILADELPHIA, April 29, 2008 – The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff called on the citizens of Philadelphia last night to embrace those who have lost loved ones or who have been wounded in service to America. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen received the Gold Medal of the Union League of Philadelphia during a ceremony at the 1862 building, right down the street from City Hall. The league was established during the Civil War as an organization to help restore the Union, and it has pursued its mission to uphold the nation for the 135 years since. Mullen challenged...

Friday, April 25, 2008 This week’s outrage comes courtesy of Philadelphia Police Commissioner, and former Washington, D.C. police chief, Charles Ramsey. As we recently reported, the Philadelphia City Council passed five gun control measures, which were subsequently signed by Mayor Michael Nutter in direct violation of Pennsylvania’s state preemption law. A Philadelphia County court granted NRA’s motion for a temporary restraining order against the new gun control regulations and ruled that Philadelphia is barred from enforcing the ordinances and moving forward on promulgating regulations. But the City opposed the injunction, saying they believed that the ordinances are both necessary and...

As the US city of Philadelphia prepares for its most closely watched political primary in generations one significant part of the population seems to have already picked their man. Muslim-American community leaders, activists and voters in the city of brotherly love, as Philadelphia is known, say Barack Obama is by far their preferred candidate. Philadelphia's Muslim community is one of the most significant, in terms of size and in terms of prominence, of all US cities. There are up to 70,000 people worshipping in 34 mosques in the city alone, leading one local leader to describe Philadelphia as "a Mecca...

Montgomery County results explain Clinton's win TRIBUNE-REVIEW By: Salena Zito By all accounts, Pennsylvania's Montgomery County should have been Sen. Barack Obama's low-hanging fruit. From Norristown with its abundant black vote to the Main Line with its affluent well-off latte liberals, "Montco" was tailor-made for the Illinois senator. "I was shocked," said Karen Matthews, wife of GOP Montgomery County chairman Jim Matthews. Karen, who made her own news by switching to Democrat so she could vote for Obama, fully expected a big Obama win. "My only explanation is that people say one thing, and then do another," she said. Karen...

It's time for Philadelphia leaders to understand that lawlessness by the city government is one of the many factors contributing to the city's culture of crime and violence. The lack of respect city officials have shown for the laws of Pennsylvania by passing illegal gun-control ordinances sets a tone for residents that honoring the rule of law is optional in this city. When the City Council passed and Mayor Nutter signed a package of gun-control bills that limits the ability of law-abiding citizens to purchase and possess firearms, they brazenly declared themselves independent from the laws of the commonwealth. It...

NEWTOWN, Conn. -- Following the decision by a Philadelphia judge earlier this morning, prohibiting enforcement of a series of gun-control laws passed in violation of state law by the Philadelphia City Council, Lawrence G. Keane, senior vice president and general counsel of the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) – the trade association of the firearms industry and plaintiff in the suit – issued the following statement: “We are pleased with the court’s decision to honor state law and grant our petition to enjoin Philadelphia from enforcing the City Council’s recently passed gun-control laws. These laws would only hurt law-abiding firearms...

Rendell joins Chelsea Clinton for 'gay pub crawl' in Phillyby BRETT LIEBERMAN, Of The Patriot-News Saturday April 19, 2008, 4:22 PM Christopher Murray embraces Chelsea Clinton Friday night when the former first daughter campaigned with Gov. Ed Rendell and actor Rob Reiner during a pub crawl of gay bars in Philadelphia. They loved her hair; they smacked her butt; they hooted and hugged Friday night as Chelsea Clinton hit Philadelphia for what campaign aides called a "gay pub crawl." BRETT LIEBERMAN, The Patriot-News "Chelsea, the gays love you!" Jeff Guaracino, 35, shouted as the former first daughter took the stage...

<p>Barack Obama seemed puzzled. Angrily puzzled. The apostle of hope seemed flummoxed by the audacity of the question. At the April 16 Philadelphia debate, George Stephanopoulos, longtime aide to Democratic politicians, was asking about his longtime association with Weather Underground bomber William Ayers. Continues...</p>

Jeremiah Wright on estrogen Posted: April 18, 20081:00 am Eastern © 2008  Last Friday in this column I reported on a brewing scandal that would be front-page news on the New York Times if the developments had concerned anyone other than their hero:Barack Hussein Obama.Instead, the new media was left to pick up and disseminate how one of Barack Obama's presidential campaign bundlers is Jodie Evans – a political ally to Venezuelan dictator, Hugo Chavez, and an advocate for Islamic militants.The story was also a yawner for ABC News "journalist" George Stephanopolous, because he didn't see fit to ask a single...

There's no debate: Pens trump politics tribune-review by salena zito Politics stops at the water's edge -- even if that water's frozen, apparently. About 57,000 more households in the Pittsburgh region tuned in to watch the Penguins beat up on the Ottawa Senators than tuned in to see two senators (Obama and Clinton) beat up on each other in the Democratic presidential debate, according to Nielsen Media Research. The hockey game played in 175,000 – or 23 percent – of all households in the Pittsburgh metro market, while the blame game played in 118,000 households – or 14 percent of...

April 17, 2008 -- PHILADELPHIA - By sheer, drowsy default, Hillary Rodham Clinton won last night's debate against Barack Obama. Only because she came the closest to describing why everyone in America is so tired of this whole endless psychodrama.It came as she was trying to explain why she and Obama have both been making up so much nonsense on the campaign trail lately. "We both have said things that, you know, turned out not to be accurate," Clinton said. "You know, that happens when you're talking as much as we have talked."

Obama considers Cheney 'wise' TRIBUNE-REVIEW By-Salena Zito When asked how he would work with the former presidents if he were elected, Sen. Barack Obama said that he would be more apt to seek the council of President George H W. Bush than his son, President George W. Bush. Obama said he considers the elder Bush's foreign policy "wise." Interesting. Wasn’t it Dick Cheney who served as the secretary of defense from March 1989 to January 1993 under President George H.W. Bush? And didn’t Cheney direct the United States' invasion of Panama and Operation Desert Storm in the Middle East?

J. Leon Altemose, controversial contractor, dies at 68 By Sally Downey and Jane M. Von Bergen Inquirer Staff Writers J. Leon Altemose, 68, a contractor who gained national attention for his stand against building-trade unions, died in his Malvern home Friday after a decades-long battle with multiple sclerosis. To his fellow "open-shop" builders, Mr. Altemose was a hero, paving the way for nonunion contractors in a heavily unionized area. He won their admiration by standing fast against unions in the face of vandalism, firebombings, and destroyed machinery and equipment at his sites. Mr. Altemose himself was beaten up at one...

Obama, speaking to a group of supporters in San Francisco, CA. , recently said: "You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment...

Burden of proof -- Clinton counts on delegate math By Salena Zito TRIBUNE-REVIEW Sunday, April 13, 2008 Every other story written by journalists across the country gives a spreadsheet of reasons why Hillary Clinton should step out of the Democrats' campaign. Yet in the public's eye, there she stands as though she has not a care in the world. One reason may be that the party's super-delegates who remain uncommitted have an unspoken burden of proof to determine whether this race goes on or not. So far, they have not exercised their superpowers.

God, guns and Obama TRIBUNE-REVIEW By: Salena Zito On Friday it was reveled that Sen. Barack Obama told wealthy San Franciscans last Sunday that small-town Pennsylvanians and Midwesterners "cling to guns or religion" because they are "bitter" about their economic status. By today in Muncie, Ind., Obama acknowledged that he "didn't say it as well as I should have."

The Los Angeles Times: "Flush with payments from well-funded campaigns, the ward leaders and Democratic Party bosses typically spread out the cash in the days before the election, handing $10, $20 and $50 bills to the foot soldiers and loyalists who make up the party's workforce. It is all legal -- but Obama's people are telling the local bosses he won't pay. That sets up a culture clash, pitting a candidate who promises to transform American politics against the realities of a local political system important to his presidential hopes.” “Obama's posture confounds neighborhood political leaders sympathetic to his cause....

Nutter defiantly signs five gun laws Council's measures appear to fly in the face of state law and legal precedent. The NRA says it will sue. By Jeff Shields Inquirer Staff Writer Mayor Nutter likened himself and City Council members yesterday to the band of rebels who formed this country as he signed five new gun-control laws that defy the state legislature and legal precedent. "Almost 232 years ago, a group of concerned Americans took matters in their own hands and did what they needed to do by declaring that the time had come for a change," Nutter said as...

Obama advance: 'Get me more white people' POLITICO Ben Smith From the account in Carnegie Mellon's paper, the Tartan, of a Michelle Obama event in Pittsburgh: While the crowd was indeed diverse, some students at the event questioned the practices of Mrs. Obama’s event coordinators, who handpicked the crowd sitting behind Mrs. Obama. The Tartan’s correspondents observed one event coordinator say to another, “Get me more white people, we need more white people.” To an Asian girl sitting in the back row, one coordinator said, “We’re moving you, sorry. It’s going to look so pretty, though.” “I didn’t know they...

A Philly Tax Cutter Can Mayor Nutter cure the city’s cancer? With 380 homicides recorded already this year, a spate of recent cop shootings, and one particularly gruesome cop killing that led to a nationwide manhunt, Philadelphia is among America’s most dangerous big cities. The crime issue dominated this year’s mayoral race, which Michael Nutter, a blunt and sometimes histrionic former councilman, eventually won. But while crime gets the most attention, Nutter’s success as mayor will ultimately rest on improving the city’s dysfunctional economy. Notwithstanding the glitzy renaissance taking place in its center, Philadelphia is an economic basket case. The...

An error of judgment: Penn is out TRIBUNE-REVIEW BY: Salena Zito Hillary Clinton's chief strategist and pollster Mark Penn has made like Elvis and left the building, a little more than two weeks before the Pennsylvania April 22nd primary.

Rendell-Casey, Round 2 By Salena Zito TRIBUNE-REVIEW Sunday, April 6, 2008 To win Pennsylvania, Barack Obama must pull off a "Missouri" -- that is, do what he did in the Show Me State: win a handful of heavily populated, liberal-centric counties and call it a day. Ironically, that is what Ed Rendell (a Hillary Clinton supporter) did to Bob Casey (an Obama supporter) in Pennsylvania's 2002 Democrat gubernatorial primary.

Sharon Conroy spent yesterday morning doing the quietly heartbreaking chores that a parent must do when her child is killed - going to court, stopping by his apartment, collecting the new bills that he'll never get to pay. But by last night, she was ready to do a bittersweet victory dance. Police officials announced that four more Simon Gratz High School students had been arrested and charged with murdering Sean Patrick Conroy. The arrests came a week to the day that Conroy, 36, died of a fatal asthma attack after six teens inexplicably pummeled him on an underground Center City...