Free Republic

Breaking News from City Hall: Christmas is back. Mayor Nutter, after sustaining two days of controversy, wants "Christmas" back up on the signs at the entrance to the German Christmas Village at City Hall. Nutter told PhillyClout he spoke with the village organizer and the sign should be back up by tomorrow. Nutter said the decision came after "personal reflection" on the matter. "We are an international, multi-ethnic, multi-faith city," Nutter said. "I took some time to step back from all of this to think about it in a larger context." Nutter, who said he had nothing to do with...

Stupidity isn’t a crime. But neither is it a particularly endearing trait. Just look at some voter stupidity displayed this past election: • In Nevada, the people returned Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to Washington for six more years. Despite being the second most powerful elected official in the country, with sizable Democratic majorities in his chamber and the House, as well as an ally in the White House, Reid has presided over — and directly contributed to — the worst recession in 80 years. What happens in Nevada stays in Nevada — and given the voters’ choice, they should...

Reported in the Examiner, Philadelphia: Firefighter Union to City: Liar, liar, pants on... you get it already.Exactly a week ago, it was written here how a fire in West Philadelphia killed a 12 year old boy. Much blame was put on the fact that Philly's Democrat Mayor Michael Nutter recently made Fire Department cutbacks, or "brownouts" to punish us all for not going along with this stupid soda tax idea. Please bear with me, before I begin this story a little back story is necessary. Apparently Philadelphia is our future and we need to see where the present proposed Marxist...

Giant pumpkins are best associated with Halloween but Medwyn Williams reckons he can set sail in one. The gardening buff is growing a 725kg (1,600lb) gourd to be his craft in a stunt to raise money for the Help for Heroes campaign. The walls of his pumpkin vessel with be 15cm (6in) thick and it will be fitted with a seat and outboard motor. ‘I am totally confident this can be done – we shall call her HMV Cinderella... Her Majesty’s Vegetable,’ said the 67-year-old from Llanfairpwll, Anglesey. ‘I have done tests with smaller pumpkins and they float well. I...

RICHMOND, Va. — Attorneys for John Allen Muhammad released a May 2008 letter on Wednesday in which the mastermind of the deadly 2002 sniper attacks in the Washington, D.C., area proclaims his innocence. The rambling, handwritten letter was made available because of requests for a statement from Muhammad, his attorneys wrote on the Web page of their law firm. The letter was filed in federal court in connection with Muhammad's unsuccessful attempt to block his execution, the attorneys said.

Nutter's Tax Increase Makes Him A Joke BY CHRIS FREIND It was a rainy, warm March back in 1936, and the snow in the hills around Johnstown began to melt. This caused the unfortunate city to be leveled by yet another flood. To help rebuild Johnstown, Pennsylvanians were forced to pay a temporary 10 percent tax on all wine and spirits. The key word being “temporary.” Even though the town was back on its feet in a few years, the tax remains. And it now stands at a whopping 18 percent. About the only joke bigger than a politician telling...

Philadelphia's court system will face a "virtual shutdown" if the cash-strapped city does not get state approval for a sales tax increase and changes to how it makes its pension payments. That's according to Mayor Michael Nutter and court officials at a news conference Wednesday. Philadelphia is facing a $1.4 billion five-year budget deficit. The city has asked the state to approve a temporary sales tax increase in Philadelphia and allow changes to how the city makes its pension payments. Without those changes, Nutter says nearly 1,000 police officers and 200 firefighters would be cut. District Attorney Lynne Abraham says...

I'm just a plain old law abiding citizen. Since I obey our nation's laws, I was curious if we have yet to hear any information about the nutter holding the "Death to Obama" sign at Senator Ben Cardin's Townhall on Wednesday, August 12th, 2009? Seems to me that we should have a name and a profile for this fellow by now? He should have appeared before a judge and, I would imagine should be held without bail. Dangerous folk like "Joe the Plumber" have all of their personal information released to the public when they so much as suggest a...

In a letter read to the Philadelphia School Reform Commission this afternoon, Mayor Nutter implored the panel to allow a classroom reality show to film at Northeast High School. The A&E show would bring the actor Tony Danza to Philadelphia as a 10th grade English teacher. "As a product of urban public schools, Mr. Danza is dedicated to enriching the young people who enter his classroom," Nutter wrote in a letter read by his education secretary, Lori Shorr. The show would be called Teach. Danza would co-teach the class with a certified teacher, and would also participate in extracurricular activities...

Calling it "a penny with a purpose," mayor Michael Nutter has confirmed that he will propose a one percent sales tax increase when he delivers his new budget to city council on Thursday morning. Nutter made the announcement on Wednesday at the Marian Anderson recreation center in South Philadelphia (above), choosing the location as an example of where the new revenue will be going. Nutter said the sales tax increase will be last three years and will generate $340 million dollars, allowing him to keep many services at current levels

The tax increases and new fees that Mayor Nutter is considering to close a yawning budget deficit could raise as much as $270 million a year for the city, while costing most homeowners hundreds of dollars annually. It is too soon to say precisely how heavy the new tax and fee burden will be, since the administration has not yet settled on its proposals and City Council has yet to weigh in. But it is clear that if the city raises the property and sales taxes and simultaneously creates a trash fee, the new costs for Philadelphia residents would be...

Philadelphia residents and workers are going find fewer programs, fire engines, libraries, pools and less snow removal in the coming year as all city departments are taking a budget cut hit. Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter announced some tough budget decisions. Mayor Nutter Addresses the City's Budget Crisis close Mayor Michael Nutter is expected to announce the city's plans for making up a $1 billion shortfall in the budget. 220 city workers will be fired and 600 currently open jobs will remain unfilled to save money. Mayor Nutter announced that the city has to cut $100 million from the current city...

The Jews were God's chosen people. God loved them unconditionally. But that didn't prevent God from disciplining them. At one point in time, certain Jews WORSHIPPED IDOLS. Not only did they worship idols but they also offered up their babies in sacrifice to idols. In today's language, in our country, people kill babies without any sacrifice. If there were sacrifice, some people would use that as a reason for killing their babies. But, no, they flat out kill their babies in what is now called abortion. The Parallel: Biblical Infanticide - The Wrath of God Abortion - ? ? ?...

(PHILADELPHIA) Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter boiled over with contempt, directed at Republicans, as he introduced Sen. Joe Biden in at the Ironworkers Union Local 401 Hall today in Pennsylvania. "I was astounded, astounded at what I saw at the Repulsive National Convention on Wednesday night, at the RNC between Giuliani and Governor Palin,” said the mayor. “Insults have now replaced ideas. Invective has now replaced innovation. Personal attacks have now replaced policy addresses. I have never seen such a negative climate in this country as we saw Wednesday night. And then the other guy had the audacity last night to...

Nutter defends using tax $$ to pay for aides' Denver tripBy CATHERINE LUCEY Philadelphia Daily News Posted on Thu, Aug. 21, 2008 Mayor Nutter says that it's OK to use city tax dollars to pay for his staff to attend the Democratic National Convention next week. Other mayors have made the opposite call. The mayors of Baltimore, Boston and Chicago are using their campaign committees to pay for their entourages to travel to Denver for the convention. "It's a political trip, it's not like a mayor's conference, it's a party conference," said Sterling Clifford, spokesman for Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon....

A Philadelphia judge today sided with the National Rifle Association and struck down city ordinances banning assault weapons and limiting handgun purchases to one a month. In a blow to the city's attempt to write its own gun laws, Common Pleas Court Judge Jane Cutler-Greenspan ruled that Philadelphia should be permanently prevented from enforcing the laws that the City Council passed unanimously in April. But Greenspan gave city officials a consolation prize by declining to strike down three other laws on procedural grounds, indicating that the NRA and other plaintiffs did not have legal standing to challenge those laws. Lawyers...

Associated Press HARRISBURG - Mayor Nutter said yesterday he will work with anyone willing to help him address the gun violence that plagues Philadelphia and other parts of the state. Nutter, who took office in January, told a Pennsylvania Press Club lunch he was interested in "a different kind of dialogue," and that both sides have to be more realistic. "I'm committed to working with anyone who is serious about this issue," he said. "And if we could, on both sides I guess, tone down some of the rhetoric, and be that much more direct and serious about how we...

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...

Boy Scouts File Federal Lawsuit Over Dispute with City of Philadelphia by KYW's Mike Dunn The local Boy Scouts organization has filed a federal lawsuit against the Nutter administration over the mayor's ultimatum that the scouts renounce the group's national policy on gays or leave their city-owned headquarters. Mayor Nutter has told the "Cradle of Liberty" Boy Scout council to renounce the Scouts' national policy on gays, start paying fair-market-value rent, or vacate its city-owned headquarters -- on Winter Street near 22nd, just off the Benjamin Franklin Parkway -- by June 1st. Currently, the scouting group gets the office space...