Results tagged “presidentgeorgew”

• Pat Robertson calling for his death notwithstanding, Hugo Chavez is showing generosity to Philadelphians by shipping five million gallons of heating oil for distribution to area low-income families, and it will be available at a 40% discount. Mayoral hopeful and current U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah brokered the deal. Chavez, President of Venezuela, recently called President George W. Bush a "genocidal madman".
• In a really stupid move, Pennsylvania lawmakers are mulling over the idea of taxing gym memberships. Granted, Men's Fitness magazine says we've improved since last year - we're the 25th fattest city in America instead of the second fattest city in the U.S. - but we're fairly certain it's not the best idea ever had to penalize people for trying to be healthy. The legislation being considered would also levy a tax on advertising services, campground fees, laundry services, candy, tanning, management consulting, and concert tickets. Yeah, because the Ticketmaster fees don't already make going to a concert annoyingly expensive.
• In sort of related news, people all over town are abuzz with the gossip that 12th Street Gym owner Robert Guzzardi is a big contributor to Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum. 12th Street Gym is smack dab in the middle of the Gayborhood and heavily utilized by the Philadelphia gay community. Santorum is not exactly a friend to the LGBT community.
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People are already gathering at the Park Hyatt at Broad and Walnut to see President George W. Bush pimp his Strategy for Victory for Iraq. The sold out presentation to the World Affairs CouncilPresident's speech is due to start shortly before noon, will last approximately 40 minutes, and - at the insistence of the White House - will not have a 'question and answer' session following the speech.

Having invaded Iraq two years ago, we're not sure why there's a plan for victory being presented .

In our times of the Vice President's (now former) Chief of Staff, Scooter Libby, being indicted for obstruction of justice and perjury, (now former) House Majority Leader Tom DeLay being indicted for conspiracy and money laundering, and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist being investigated by the FEC, and Philadelphia City Councilman Rick Mariano being indicted for several counts of corruption, it hardly seems possible that there are any decent and ethical politicians left in this country. But take heart! Philadelphia's ethical standards are now amongst the highest in the country.

Philly is a liberal town. If President George W. Bush picks a local judge to nominate for Supreme Court justice, that should be a good thing, right? Alas, no -- President Bush managed to find Philadelphia's most extreme Right Wing judge, Samuel Alito, to nominate. He's so conservative that his nickname is 'Scalito', a reference to his Antonin Scalia-like tendencies.

Cindy Sheehan is coming to the Philadelphia area later this week for a panel discussion, memorial service for U.S. troops who have died in Iraq, and several anti-war rallies.

Junior Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum is looking at quite a fight in next year's mid-term election. He's currently trailing likely Democratic opponent Bob Casey, Jr. (son of much-beloved, longtime PA governor, Bob Casey) by nearly 14 points in a Quinnipiac University poll. Possibly defrauding the Penn Hills school district, Santorum's incredibly unpopular opinions about the right to privacy and the right of government to make our medical decisions for us, his public declaration of support for full Amtrak funding which he promptly voted against, and that time Santorum blamed the liberals for causing Catholic priests to diddle little kids...well, none of that helps him. However, pollsters indicate that Santorum's flagging support is "because Santorum is too aligned with some of the White House's flailing policies." Enter the new, softer side of Rick Santorum. It began in March with a poll that showed Catholics were increasingly becoming anti-death penalty. Santorum immediately backtracked on his own hardcore support of the death penalty. And now Santorum has begun a campaign in earnest to prove to Pennsylvanians -- indeed, the whole country -- that he really isn't a hypocritical liar bent on allowing government to butt into every aspect of our lives. Instead, he's a lover of animals and children and veterans, concerned about the fiscal well-being of all Pennsylvanians, even at the risk of alienating his bosom buddy, President George W. Bush.
• Despite voting against every single attempt to add money to the Veterans Administration fund to pay for healthcare (Democrats had been fighting for more funding since Spring), Santorum all of a sudden became the chief backer of additional funding for the VA. See, he really does support the troops! Now maybe he can get them some body armor.
• On Tuesday Santorum introduced a bill to eliminate the telephone excise tax, that 3% tax added onto your phone bill. 3%! Why, that's a whole $1 or $2 per month! That savings would have been severely offset, however, if Santorum's minimum wage bill had been approved.
• Santorum has now decided to appeal to our love of animals by taking on the puppy mills. We guess this goes hand in hand with his new found respect for life for those in prison.