Month: June 2010

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Fear of deficits haunts our politics

  By Economic Development, Politics

Published in the Philadelphia Dailiy News, June 21, 2010 A SPECTER is haunting American politics – it’s the great and growing fear of budget deficits. In Washington, public policies critical to restoring the health of our economy are being delayed because of the deficit. Outside Washington, politicians and opinion leaders, and some citizens, are wringing their hands about our deficits. Some of these opinion leaders, with foundation backing, are holding a series of public town halls about the deficit, including one in Philadelphia on June 26. We need to stop and think seriously about the kind of problem the deficit presents and how we should deal with it before we let hysteria lead us down the wrong path. We need to stop and think, first, about the difference between the immediate and the long-term budget deficit. Right now, our economy is recovering slowly from the most serious recession since the… Continue reading

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Stepping up or back: Leadership lessons from Bill Russell and Sam Jones

  By Life Stories, Sports

Bill Russell tells a great story in his second of three memoirs, Second Wind, abou how living upt up to your talents by being willing to take on responsibility is critical to leaderhip. For those of you too young to remember him, Sam Jones replaced Bill Sharman as the shooting guard on the Boston Celtics during their run of 11 NBA championships in 13 years. He partnered with point guard K.C. Jones and was probably the third best guard in the league in the early sixties, after Oscar Robertson and Jerry West. Jones was an incredible scorer who could shoot from outside, drive to the basket and make his own shot. Jones was totally capable of taking over a game the way Kobe Bryant or Paul Pierce can do today. He could and did score buckets of points in key games. And he always elevated his play in the playoffs.… Continue reading

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Rape, domination and sexuality

  By Love and Sex, Sexual and gender equality

Matt Ruben wrote a good op-ed in the Daily News today that points out that rape is a crime of violence against women and that calls for making the hate crimes law apply to such violence.   I agree with this conclusion.   But in the course of making the argument, Matt repeats a staple of feminist thought when he says that “research has demolished the myth that rape is a crime of lust or passion. It’s a crime of power: Men rape women because they seek to dominate and brutalize them.” That I don’t think is quite right. Rape is a sexual act as well as an act of domination. And we won’t understand rape, or the other ways both vile and much more innocuous, in which men dominate women unless we grasp that. Continue reading

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Montco citizens call on Tom Corbett to resign

  By Health Care, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

Yesterday, on the steps of the Montgomery County Court House health care advocates from Health Care for America Now, the Pennsylvania Health Access Network, Pennsylvania Communities Organizing for Change and Penn Action calling on Attorney General Tom Corbett to resign his office. Montgomery County Times-Herald coverage of the action, including video footage, can be found here. We took this action because Corbett has politicized an office that should be entirely above politics. Continue reading

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Delaware County citizens call for Tom Corbett to resign

  By Health Care

Residents say that Corbett has compromised the integrity of the Office of Attorney General by politicizing the office Media, Pennsylvania—Outsidethe Delaware County Court House today, local health care activists called for Attorney General Tom Corbett to drop his participation in a lawsuit against the health care reform law recently enacted in Washington and then resign from office. Members of Health Care For America Now, the Pennsylvania Health Access Network, and Pennsylvania Communities Organizing for Change claimed that Corbett’s lawsuit against health care reform, and other actions he had taken, had so politicized the Attorney General’s office that the integrity of Mr. Corbett and his entire staff were now in question. “At a time when Pennsylvanians, including small businesses, people with serious pre-existing medical conditions, and young people under 26 are seeing immediate benefits from the health care reform legislation, it is deeply troubling that our Attorney General is using taxpayer funds… Continue reading

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Delco and Montco citizens tell Tom Corbett to resign

  By Health Care

Residents say that Corbett has compromised the integrity of the Office of Attorney General by politicizing the office Media, Pennsylvania—Outside the Delaware County and Montgomery County Court Houses today, local health care activists called for Attorney General Tom Corbett to drop his participation in a lawsuit against the health care reform law recently enacted in Washington and then resign from office. Members of Health Care For America Now, the Pennsylvania Health Access Network, and Pennsylvania Communities Organizing for Change claimed that Corbett’s lawsuit against health care reform, and other actions he had taken, had so politicized the Attorney General’s office that the integrity of Mr. Corbett and his entire staff were now in question. “At a time when Pennsylvanians, including small businesses, people with serious pre-existing medical conditions, and young people under 26 are seeing immediate benefits from the health care reform legislation, it is deeply troubling that our Attorney… Continue reading

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Dreaming the city of our lives; finding the city of our dreams

  By Love and Sex, Philosophy

Here is a problem for the 21st century: how do you live a life that is changing and flexible and that requires constantly reinventing oneself when there are things in life—family, bodies of knowledge and work, the soul of a person you love—that require long term commitments. Maybe forging a soul of any depth, or getting to know one, is like getting to know a city with broad avenues, narrow alleys, and everything in between; one that holds surprises around almost every corner. You can get to know it only if you can travel back and forth in it from every direction. Not systematically, not with a plan in mind but serendipitously. Eventually, you learn how to make your way through it almost instinctively, knowing at each corner how to get to where else you want to go. That’s Wittgenstein’s understanding of learning your way around a city–and of doing… Continue reading