tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-129999672008-10-06T11:49:13.336-04:00DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18119492053309815649noreply@blogger.comBlogger475125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12999967.post-42184745376063435012008-09-26T00:55:00.012-04:002008-10-06T11:49:13.354-04:00

By now, hopefully you've seen the video. You've seen Gov. Palin talking about how bold he is. About how he exhorted the lord to "make a way." You've seen him lay his hands on her and ask the lord to protect her from witchcraft. You're probably still wondering about just who is this Pastor Muthee character is... Pastor Muthee rose to prominence after he declared a woman in the town of

DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07213466529598154587noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12999967.post-88616765018723410422008-09-23T23:21:00.006-04:002008-09-24T02:00:14.156-04:00

So, where to begin? $700,000,000,000. Yikes. That's a lot of zeros. I don't get it. I don't understand why we're all so quick to jump on this bandwagon. And I'm not expressing the skepticism that has been expressed by Sen. Dodd. I'm not talking about how we need to have some "oversight." I'm talking about why the hell are we doubling down on these losers? Someone ought to ask Gary

DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07213466529598154587noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12999967.post-64695975799691752682008-09-23T21:43:00.002-04:002008-09-23T21:46:39.493-04:00

and the "sexism" that derailed Sen. Clinton. The bit about Mike Vick and Sarah Palin is classic.

DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07213466529598154587noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12999967.post-25268661641407545792008-09-19T23:41:00.004-04:002008-09-20T00:02:38.061-04:00

Ronald Reagan is recognized for bringing down the Soviet Union by scaring them into bankrupting their own country. In response to Reagan's fantastical lies about Star Wars and the incredible inflation of the defense budget, the Soviets spent themselves into oblivion. To use poker terms, the Soviets were short stacked and Reagan bullied them into the dustbin of history. The problem is we

DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18119492053309815649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12999967.post-4291869991604892902008-09-11T12:07:00.007-04:002008-09-12T11:49:26.484-04:00

"In the U.S. we have what I call an 'excess of gavel'-too much participatory democracy. Anybody can come out of the woodwork. It doesn't take more than a couple noisy people to bring a project to its knees for a long time. The problem in China: they have the opposite set of issues. They have no gavel. They have nothing but a sledgehammer. I've argued that we could use a little bit more

DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07213466529598154587noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12999967.post-21197991404051433292008-09-10T21:37:00.012-04:002008-09-11T23:20:42.175-04:00

First off, let's be clear. I'm not talking about Fox. Fox is on record as to its status as the Bush Administration's outsourced propaganda ministry. No, I'm talking about ABC, CBS and NBC. My frustration with the networks began with the Clinton campaign and its repeated assertion that she was the victim of sexism. I wanted to know what sexism? Where is the evidence for this claim?

DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07213466529598154587noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12999967.post-83194504949531357442008-09-10T10:04:00.008-04:002008-09-10T10:48:33.583-04:00

Considering today's news regarding Foxwood's decision to move from the riverfront to the Gallery, I saw fit it to republished a nearly two-year-old post written at a time when my cheesesteak-fueled id, aka Rubylegs, was in full swing. Back then, I was going off about how crazy it was for Philly to allow the Gross Clinic to be sold to a Walmart heiress, raving about something called "urban farms"

DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07213466529598154587noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12999967.post-26844579275714346912008-09-07T00:07:00.015-04:002008-09-07T01:35:13.731-04:00

On August 29, the Erie School District filed a lawsuit in the Western District of Pennsylvania against JPMorgan and Investment Management Advisory Group Inc. So far, the lawsuit has made little noise in the local press. However, because of the magnitude of what is at stake, it is likely that many other school districts throughout Pennsylvania may someday soon be contemplating similar lawsuits.

DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07213466529598154587noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12999967.post-77221152041990028812008-09-04T23:08:00.014-04:002008-09-09T00:18:26.462-04:00

Conservatives do things like stay in school and learn to spell.Sure, they may still like to dress conservatively and belong to conservative country clubs and send their kids to conservative private schools and dine at conservative restaurants but, for whatever reason, they just don't like their politics conservative anymore. I've watched enough of political coverage to know that the

DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07213466529598154587noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12999967.post-53605204366779943452008-09-04T11:35:00.010-04:002008-09-05T17:36:06.993-04:00

Before you waste the next half hour watching him get interviewed by Joel Rose, please note that around the 3:25 mark in the interview Mark listed as a "Bumper Sticker Slogan" the oft-repeated phrase "the greenest building is one the one you've already built." I'm just saying that if the City's green guru is going to keep repeating that "Bumper Sticker Slogan," eventually someone ought to call

DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07213466529598154587noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12999967.post-86355379324827384642008-09-02T23:46:00.026-04:002008-09-09T00:23:14.822-04:00

The Potential CobraMcCain Cabinet.A couple months back, I acknowledged the abyss of skepticismnihilism that dwells in the heart of my soul. I titled a post about the Clinton legacy, "Truth, merely the lie most frequently repeated." These words represented to me a fundamental truth about contemporary American politics. The observation seemed so patent that I assumed that I was repeating the

DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07213466529598154587noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12999967.post-61825374433397477602008-07-18T10:54:00.015-04:002008-07-18T11:38:56.792-04:00

(Updating a previous story) "Fight The Tower.Net" has worked tirelessly to educate the public of the dangers posed by blotting out the Sun through the erection of massive 47-story condominiumsACC Tower. As part of its campaign of public education, "Fight The Tower.Net" has released a helpful diagram depicting the effects of the proposed tower. Let's turn to the facts. As the image clearly

DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07213466529598154587noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12999967.post-22934804596500001052008-06-19T22:28:00.013-04:002008-08-01T10:55:13.791-04:00

In his June 17th speech to the Planning Commission, Mayor Nutter stated "We prefer to revitalize existing structures where possible and carefully integrate new development into our existing environment." Tonight, during his speech to the Urban Sustainability Forum at the Academy of Natural Sciences, Mark Alan Hughes provided the most succint definition of sustainability I've ever heard that does

DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07213466529598154587noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12999967.post-65384122553804768422008-06-12T10:29:00.004-04:002008-06-12T10:55:52.938-04:00

NYTimes: After doing a profile on Greensgrow and urban farming a couple weeks back, the NYTimes takes farming even more local - the backyard. In "Banking on Gardening," Marian Burros describes how many have been moved to plant vegetable gardens to offset rising food costs. Seems to me Philly has a lot of vacant lots out there. Metropolis: It's an older article, but the folks over at

DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07213466529598154587noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12999967.post-32907864700741482362008-06-11T11:29:00.009-04:002008-06-17T16:22:50.818-04:00

For the last week, I've been mulling over Stephen Colbert's interview of George Will. It wasn't Will's smug intellectualism that got me thinnking. It was the fact that what he has to say is nothing more than platitudes dressed up with fancy verbiage. At 3:48 in the embedded clip, George Will pronounces what he argues to be the fundamental tenent of Conservatism. He states: "What

DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07213466529598154587noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12999967.post-32265193975300645022008-06-10T14:23:00.004-04:002008-06-10T15:01:30.907-04:00

Nashville City Paper: Folks at Vandy are pretty broken up about the loss of the star recruit Anthony Hewitt. Brett Hait got the scoop on Hewitt's scouting report which describes him as an "Explosive-type player with excellent athletic abilities. Quick bat that can drive the ball to all fields. Potential to be a tape measure-type home run hitter. Good makeup. Physically he compares to a younger

DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07213466529598154587noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12999967.post-25362828873428474112008-05-14T16:31:00.015-04:002008-05-14T18:25:38.776-04:00

To repeat what has become a truism 'round these parts, Mark Alan Hughes is the man. As I've said before, loyal readers know I get a kick out of reading the thoughts of Mark Alan Hughes. From zoning to the Barnes Tower to the City Trust to the Erie Canal, Mr. Hughes has been on the right side of just about every issue we here at Phillyville have bothered to give a damn about. Mr. Hughes even

DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18119492053309815649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12999967.post-64361546416389956632008-05-08T23:33:00.013-04:002008-05-23T23:33:51.709-04:00

Today, two days after Andrea Mitchell stood in front of MSNBC's audience and reported that the Clinton camp was discounting the results of the North Carolina primary because of the large population of African Americans that make up that state's population, Hillary Clinton had this to say during a USA Today interview:"Senator Obama's support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans,

DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18119492053309815649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12999967.post-26405439630145331932008-04-25T09:09:00.007-04:002008-05-14T17:29:45.349-04:00

Last year, in the midst of the Mayor's race, there was a lot of talk about ethics and whatnot. To demonstrate his dedication to the ethics issue, one candidate affected the habit of pronouncing the word "croney" in a particularly nasal Philadelphia accent. The Committee of Seventy even went as far as to ask each candidate to sign on to an "Ethics Agenda." At the time, I criticized the

DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18119492053309815649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12999967.post-86970330889867067122008-04-20T21:56:00.011-04:002008-04-20T23:12:27.409-04:00

Versus will not use the same stock footage every time they broadcast a game from Philly.Folks who know know I don't like Comcast. And I'm not alone on this one. Fox spent all afternoon Saturday doing skyline shots of the scenic Blue Cross building. Somehow the Comcast Center remained off screen, stage right, for the entirety of the broadcast. That's petty. But perfectly understandable

DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18119492053309815649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12999967.post-6677441153133526792008-04-02T15:07:00.007-04:002008-05-14T18:35:55.725-04:00

The $85$14.97 Phillies Hat So several months back, I wrote a fairly bitter screed about how I had been deprived of my chance to purchase a Phillies NL East Championship cap. A couple months after that I posted about how a knock-off version of the hats were then selling on eBay for upwards of $85. Well, about a week ago, I was perusing the Phillies website 'cause, as I'm kinda between jobs

DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18119492053309815649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12999967.post-25811782628583532442008-04-02T10:05:00.010-04:002008-04-02T13:13:55.030-04:00

Inquirer: The Mona Lisa of Philly stock photos makes a return appearance in today's Inqy. The scrutinizing gaze staring impenetrably into the distance. The blue blazer casually tossed over his shoulder like the cape of some anonymous alter ego of a yet unannounced super hero. The blurred capitol dome echoing the gravitas of this man's being. The glimpse of slivery locks hinting at wisdom

DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18119492053309815649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12999967.post-32615324367008382042008-04-01T10:36:00.003-04:002008-04-01T11:31:02.067-04:00

Governing: The Idea Center takes a look at "Ecotouring the Keystone State." Daily News: Woo hoo! We're the best! Philly has more people in prison than any other municipality!!! Philly spends $218M per year on our prison system. In comparison, Philly contributes approximately $800M per year to our school district's budget. Our school system is not the best. NYTimes: Grameen Bank, the

DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18119492053309815649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12999967.post-89986448731568672692008-03-31T10:00:00.021-04:002008-09-09T00:15:32.509-04:00

I suspect that history will not be kind to Bush/Cheney. But having fallen so far already, I doubt history will be any harder on the Bush Administration than the present. After all, Rumsfeld already risks arrest on any trip to Europe as a result of the Ratner war crime indictment. With that in mind, I suspect history will be even less kind to the Clintons. The Clintons were the first

DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18119492053309815649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12999967.post-44097439696378043832008-03-10T10:20:00.003-04:002008-03-10T10:22:55.972-04:00

Stuff Travel+Leisure's ballot box in favor of Philly and make sure we do not get unfairly trashed by all those haters out there. And once you're done that, commence hating on other cities!!! Let your opinion be known on bridge design.

DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18119492053309815649noreply@blogger.com