president obama: Philadelphia Metropolis

I Try to Be Cynical...

As the malaprop-prone Gov. James Duff once told a reporter in Harrisburg: "There's nothing mysterical about the electrical college." But, it looks the Republicans intend to make it mysterical. Senate Republicans have suggested a do-over in the way we count... (Comments)

The Blacksmith Revival

By Stuart Geisler» I make a living buying and selling anvils, as well as being a professional blacksmith. The craft movement in America is making a come-back because of these tough economic times. People are fashioning their own hand-made goods to economize. Recycling old iron into functional objects is gaining popularity and profitability as people seek new and unique ways to increase their income. I used to show many pictures of myself blacksmithing in my shop 25 years ago, and people were always curious about the craft, so I started working again in my shop and studying the history of what I thought was a dying craft. Suddenly, people started asking me for lessons in this ancient craft, and how to acquire tools of the trade. (Comments)

Failure to Engage

@font-face { font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }table.MsoNormalTable { font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; } Tom Corbett has his budget and it's... (Comments)

Controversy Over Secure Communities

By Daniel Denvir During the five-month period from October 1, 2010 through February 28, 2011, there were 49,983 immigrants who were administratively arrested or booked into Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody through Secure Communities. Of the total, 23 percent... (Comments)

Redrawing the Seventh District

Ten years ago, the powers-that-be tried to save Rick Mariano's council seat by redrawing the lines of the Seventh District.  The object was to dilute the Latino vote by adding more white people to the mix.  To do that, they... (Comments)