Moshe Dayan

Moshe Dayan on born on a kibbutz near the Sea of Galilee in 1915. When he was 14, he joined the outlawed Haganah, an underground defense force to protect Jewish settlements from Arab attacks. Although caught and imprisoned by the British for two years, he would fight for them in Lebanon during WWII, losing his eye. In the 1948 War of Independence, he fought on all the fronts, defending Israel; by 1953 he was Chief of Staff of the Israeli Armed Forces. In 1956 he led the Suez Campaign.

In 1967 he was Defense Minister for the Six Day War. He remained in that position through the War of 1973. Although a genuine hero in every sense of the word, he was held responsible for the initial success of Egyptian forces in the surprise attack on Yom Kippur (1973), and would resign from his position.

Israel is too small of a country, and it's enemies too numerous, for any miscalculations regarding it's security.

reprinted from April 2010

Harassing Alfonso Todd

Feb 19, 2013
James J. Narlesky, Magistrate Judge
District Court # 03-1-04
248 Brodhead Road
Suite 2 Bethlehem, PA 18017 
RE: Docket Number: MJ-03104-TR0000434-2013

Judge Narlesky, Your Honor:

I understand there's a private meeting or a public hearing (your secretary Jenna has pledged to call me back on this) scheduled for this Thursday, Feb 21, 2013 @ 9:00am regarding.... habitual recidivist scofflaw defendant and Allentown City Council candidate Alfonso Todd ...... 

As a "sidebar," Your Honor, I am pleased to have been the civic-minded catalyst for Alfonso Todd finally contacting you and accepting some small measure of accountability for his antisocial behavior through my Lehigh Valley Somebody blog post on Alfonso, LVS Exposé: "We CAN Do Better" than Alfonso Todd on Allentown City Council. 

Your Honor, considering the fact that Mr. Todd has been thumbing his nose at police and the courts..... and finally, Your Honor, that this man has the audacity to insult the citizenry and run for Allentown City Council, I humbly ask that you impose the maximum 6-month jail sentence on Alfonso Todd as you have the full authority to do.

Thank you, Your Honor, for considering being as civic-minded as I am. 

Best Regards,
Bill Villa
610.428.1253

Bill Villa's harassment against Alfonso Todd and others, including myself, continues every day. I've been told that on Villa's blog he now falsely claims that I challenged him to a fistfight. As I said before, I do not challenge anybody to any form of physical altercation, but do challenge the Allentown Police Department to protect me, and others, from these increasingly hostile threats from Mr. Villa. In addition to myself, Villa sent a copy of his email to both Allentown City Council and Mayor Pawlowski.  It's a quandary if one should report on Villa's despicable  behavior. Needless to say, he certainly isn't really civic minded; He is a predator, trying to cause harm to people he barely knows, and have done no harm to him.  He is a distorter, who has sent hundreds of such letters, as shown above, about dozens of people. He is a cyber stalker.  Most people don't even care to read about such things, much less write about them.  I also would prefer not to write about his abhorrent behavior, but he counts on his ability to intimidate his victims into not defending themselves.

The Butchers of Allentown

photograph by Bob Wilt
A&B (Abogast&Bastian), dominated the local meat packing industry for almost 100 years. At it's peak, they employed 700 people and could process 4,000 hogs a day. The huge plant was at the foot of Hamilton Street, at the Lehigh River. All that remains is their free standing office building, which has been incorporated into America on Wheels. Front and Hamilton was Allentown's meatpacking district. Within one block, two national Chicago meatpackers, Swift and Wilson, had distribution centers. Also in the area were several small independents, among them M. Feder and Allentown Meat Packing Company.
reprinted from January 2011

Dan Hartzell Discovers WPA

The Morning Call's Road Warrior, Dan Hartzell, has discovered the WPA. His article today explains the progress, or lack of, concerning the wall in Lehigh Parkway. Like my article four months ago, he interviewed Rich Young, head of public works. Although Dan learned nothing new that my readers didn't know about the wall, he does mention that city is waking up about our WPA treasures. I don't know how Dan got to the Parkway for his photo, but he probably had to cross Schreiber's Bridge. The condition of that bridge is the real road story needing his attention. When I had interviewed Young, although the western approach wall on the north side of the bridge had just been rebuilt, the eastern approach wall had also been smashed. Young acknowledged that this damage was caused by trucks trying to make the turn onto Martin Luther King Drive. The rebuilt western wall approach has again been smashed. Although the bridge is weight restricted, the trucks are ignoring the sign. Allentown can install dozens of security cameras downtown, but not one to protect our bridge built in 1828. I invite Hartzell to join my tour of the Parkway WPA structures on April 6th. If he shows up, I'll suggest that he read and copy my reports about Schreiber's Bridge.

A Snowy Morning In Jerusalem

Snow is a rare occurrence in Jerusalem, but on January 10th it snowed 6 inches, the biggest storm since 1992.  Although this blog concentrates on local political commentary, I do indulge in a few distractions. Among those are local history, boxing from the Joe Louis era, and stories from the Holy Land.  With all topics, the quality of the visual image presented here is paramount to me.

The Hibernating Morning Call Newspaper

A month ago I wrote a post entitled Top Brass To Cash In Chips. At that time, I wrote; Check with The Morning Call in ten days to two week, for what will be just a longer version of my exclusive. It actually took the Call one month. How is it that a blogger can scoop a paper? How is it that a feature story can be team written that contains virtually no new information? How can columnists use their bully pulpit to write about grammar, week after week? I think the answer lies in the recent bankruptcy period of the Tribune Organization. During that period business decisions were made from financial distress, not journalistic accomplishment. Those retaining their jobs were probably frozen somewhat, knowing that decisions were being made 1,500 miles away, by people who likely never even read The Morning Call. Now that the Tribune has emerged from bankruptcy, I wish the remaining staff well, with whomever their new employer turns out to be.

UPDATE: Question for Bill White.  Bill, should it be whoever or whomever your new employer turns out to be?

Sal Panto's Obsession

I became interested in Sal Panto years ago, when he first championed for a new parking deck behind the Wolf School. I'm somewhat familiar with center city Easton, and recognized that as a third rate location. Sal then pushed for a location further up Northampton Street, again away from the square. Finally, he bought into the Lanta Terminal/Deck formula, first done in Allentown. At the time, in Allentown, it removed the shoppers from the shops. Now of course, Allentown has removed the shops. Panto then paired the Al Bundy High School Museum of Sports with the deck, specifying that Sal's high school picture be included. He now wants City Hall in the proposed complex, so that he may view the picture through out the day.