More Parlor Tricks by O'Hare

The blog dispute occurring between Bernie O'Hare and myself will certainly not be one of the posts which I repeat in a year or so, it's somewhat embarrassing. However, it is necessary for me to use this venue to set the record straight; Bernie now declares not only was my post of last week on Tony Phillips mean spirited, but I'm dancing on Phillip's grave. Over at O'Hare's blog we go back and forth; me explaining how Bernie double talks and him double talking, until we reached the banned in Boston stage; Bernie announced he will delete my replies, so here's the rest of the debate;

Bernie O'Hare said...
LVCI,

In Pennsylvania, assault includes the battery. In Pa., a person is guilty of assault if he attempts to cause or intentionally, knowingly or recklessly causes bodily injury to another. Even if there is mutual consent, it is an assault.

Police filed no charges. I do not have the police report. From everything I've read, I'm unable to conclude that Tony was guilty of assault. It seems more like self-defense, pushing someone away who launches an assault herself.

Bernie O'Hare said...
LVCI, There is nothing in Jarrett's account that leads me to conclude there was an assault. If someone attacks you and you push the person away, that is NOT an assault. That's why Tony was never charged. Bethlehem police, and many of our local police departments, take allegations of domestic abuse quite seriously.

2:13 PM


Here is what Jarrett Renshaw actually wrote in The Morning Call Sept. 16th

During the investigation, Lopez repeatedly insisted that she was not interested in filing charges and that she just wanted Phillips to pay her medical bills, the police report states.
Police talked to Phillips and he claimed Lopez was physically aggressive with him and she pushed him and then he pushed her to the floor, according to the police report.
Bethlehem Detective Mark DiLuzio said Tuesday the incident is listed on the police report as a simple assault. He said no arrest was ever made.
"We are reopening the investigation because the victim said all she wanted was Phillips to pay her medical records, which he never did." Diluzio said.*

It is not my purpose to print the above news report to rehash this incident between Phillips and the woman, but to show the hypocrisy of O'Hare, who routinely presents distortions as facts rather than concede an error on his part, and accuses anybody who points this out of attacking him.

The biggest damage to Tony in the blogosphere wasn't from my blog, it was from O'Hare. His absurd distortions and contradictions ended up keeping the topic on the front burner all week.

* The Morning Call reported this morning that the Phillips will not face simple assault charges because the statute of limitations has expired.

New Graveside Tears

In August of 08, after about a year of blogging on conditions at Fairview, The Morning Call ran the story shown above. I did manage to organize a small meeting between the cemetery operators and the public later that fall. Yesterday I received the following comment, submitted to a posting from that period.

Patti from California has left a new comment on your post "New Graveside Tears":

My family is buried at Fairview and 2 weeks ago I visited and was appalled at the horrible conditions and total lack of maintenance throughout the cemetery. I have been trying to reach Loretta or David most of the summer and was told they had taken an extended trip out of the country. (business must be good) They seem to be back now - but still no way to actually talk to them.

My mother is 97 - plans to be buried there with her parents and my Dad. I could cry at the thought ....

I googled Fairview and was led to your blog. Loretta told me in May I could get our plot maintained if I invested in their endowment for $1000. After seeing the total lack of care there, I feel like I would be throwing the money away. What do other people think or do about this appalling condition?

I feel sorry for this family, Fairview may have been a well maintained place when the father was buried there many years ago. I believe the cemetery is in better condition than it was two years ago, but that's not saying very much. I will occasionally revisit this topic, to at least continue a small noise on behalf of these families.

O'Hare's Bag of Tricks

This morning when I read The Morning Call, I knew Bernie O'Hare
would be blaming everybody but Tony Phillips. Bernie keeps pulling the same tricks out of the bag. He gets away with it by pummeling the commentators who disagree, and intimating the other bloggers. Bernie is the Pope of the local blogosphere; nobody has more readers or produces more posts.

I wrote a post titled 'Stupid Is As Stupid Does', although I did question Tony's intelligence in the last line, the post itself makes a case that Tony acted stupidly, people in his camp had said the same thing, and I suspect Tony would concede as much. In the comment section I later elaborated that I don't think that Tony is stupid, but certainly did a stupid act.

Bernie so often refer to snarks, so often refers to ad hominem attacks. UNLESS THEY SERVE HIS PURPOSE. In his last three posts about Tony, here are some of the things he said about me; mean spirited, likes to kick people when their down, silly, made a stupid claim, holier than thou...

Bernie's usual reply to such criticism is that the comment is a non sequitur or off topic. In his bash anyone in his way defense of Tony, he made a distraction out of the difference between a "setup" and a "conspiracy". He justified this semantic word-game because a reporter from the Express Times pointed it out. Two days later when I commented that a columnist from The Morning Call used the "setup" expression, he mockingly asked if I thought this person was an authority?
Bernie, he's no authority, but neither are you.

In Bernie's post today he chides two other bloggers beside myself, and ends by raising the race card.

As a new guest poster on Lehigh Valley Poliblog, I considered placing this post there; but just yesterday they made peace with Bernie after a year of discord, and I don't want to upset their apple cart. Most bloggers would rather take a few shots from the Pope than challenge him, not me, I had enough.

Tony Phillips was contrite and publicly apologized. It would have been nice if Bernie let him have that dignity.

The Final Crack

Tony Phillip's candidacy suffered another crack today; The Morning Call revealed that the infamous internet chat was really with a former mistress posing as a fresh item. Although Tony tried to do some damage control, even blogger Bernie O'Hare won't be able to put him back together again. Last week Bernie took off the gloves defending Tony, accusing critics and myself of being mean spirited and worse; also not properly distinguishing between the terms "setup" and "conspiracy"!

After the previous articles Tony was already toxic. At a recently held Republican Rally he was neither present nor mentioned. There are those who feel that personal life, especially sexual, is private and should have no bearing on public officials; Tony has given them a full plate.

More Weeding, Less Talking

From the archives, July 31,2007
Allentown has a few icons, such as the PPL Tower, the 8th Street and Tilghman Street Bridges. In Europe many bridges date from the middle ages, there are even Roman bridges still in use. It seems here in Allentown we cannot even keep an 80 year old bridge together. Earlier this year County Executive Cunningham and Mayor Pawlowski had a press conference under the Tilghman Street Bridge, while on the top weeds and saplings were growing out of the road bed. The bushes and weeds are still there, on both bridges, eroding away magnificent irreplaceable structures. Lets hope these great silver tongued planners stop waiting for penn-dot, and get around to buying a bottle of weed begone.
UPDATE: When I was a kid I grew up in Lehigh Parkway South, this was a development of twin homes built for the returning GI's, the streets were named for planes built during the war; Liberator, Catalina, and Coronado.(Queen City Airport was a WW2 plane factory). Getting into the rest of Allentown was a bit inconvenient. To go downtown(Hamilton St. was the Shopping Mecca of Lehigh Valley) you would have to go over the 8th Street Bridge. To get to the east side you would go down the Lehigh Street hill, up to Union and then over the river. Getting to points west required going over the stone arch bridge near Regency Towers. Construction of the 15th Street bridge finally connected the south side with the rest of Allentown. The metal deck, which was annoying from day one, was supposed to be temporary. So here we are, fifty some years later, being told the bridge is ready to be replaced. Is there anyone in authority who remembers how difficult it was to navigate Allentown before the bridge? So now the decaying 8th Street Bridge will absorb the traffic during construction of the new 15th Street Bridge? Allentown meanwhile defers simple maintenance, like rail painting, because of promises from Harrisburg? We truly are slow learners.

UPDATE: Lipstick on a pig; Allentown now has hung banners on the 15th St. bridge lightposts, distracting drivers attention somewhat away from the rusting rails.

UPDATE: Sept. 15, 2009. The railings on the 15th St. Bridge have been painted. The Linden Street Bridge, an iconic stone arch bridge over the Jordan Creek and Historic Rail lines has been torn down. No repairs have been done to either the 8th Street or Tilghman Street Bridges. Both the silver tongues are insured of re-election. We're still slow learners.

REPRINT OF POST FROM JULY 31, 2007

Saints and Sinners

This blog has a little tabloid in it; I'm not above using a racy photograph or catchy titles. There is an interesting story in today's Morning Call* about the Rev. William Kuntze, who refused to compromise his principles over an offered contribution from the Sands Casino. Rev. Kuntze directed the New Bethany Ministry, which administers to the area needy in Bethlehem. Kuntze feels that the last thing the area poor need is to lose their money in a casino, and was an opponent of the casino project. Seems that the Casino offered to donate $7,500 to New Bethany, and that the board President wanted to accept the money, hence Kuntze's resignation.

Las Vegas is one of the fastest growing cities in the United States; as such they have school boards, churches and all normal facets of community life dependent upon the revenue stream from the casino industry. Surfing the net for a photograph for this blog, I even came across the Vegas Hookers for Jesus(not photo used). In submitting his resignation Rev. Kuntze said "In my view, our hands should remain clean."

I'm personally not against gambling (I don't gamble), nor do I think Las Vegas is sinful, but I do admire the Rev. Kuntze for his refusal to rationalize compromises to his integrity.

* http://www.mcall.com/news/all-a1_4newbeth.7019290sep12,0,7465212.story

Stupid Is As Stupid Does

This past May I conducted my fifth in a series of town hall meetings which I call Allentown Speak Out. This one concentrated on the parks and Bicentennial Field. With 30 plus people in attendance, I asked Tony Phillips what he could do for us; he replied that we should organize and make our feelings known to City Council. I told him that we are the public, he represents us, and that he should take the ball. As he stood blankly by, Michael Donovan said he would prepare a resolution. Six weeks ago he told over 70 people who attended his Park Committee Meeting, in the Council Chamber, that they should organize and make their feelings known to City Council.

Tony has made page 1 in both The Morning Call and the local blogosphere for two days in roll now. He never made the front page before, actually he has hardly made the paper at all, always promising to start his campaign in another week. Some pundits think the real issue is that he was set up; I felt it was his judgement. Today I learned that the famous conversation took place on his own campaign facebook page; now I think the issue is his intelligence.

Tough Crowd

Lately I've been thinking a lot about my mother's cousin Abe Simon. After knocking out Jersey Joe Walcott he got a shot at Louis and the title in March of 41. Louis knocked him down in the first round and Abe took the 8 count grinning. He battled Louis for the next 12 rounds. All boxing fans know he didn't win, but he did earn another shot at the title. Its not easy for a conservative to be on the Lehigh Valley Blogosphere, I'll grin and bare it and hopefully make a point or two about really improving Allentown.

REPRINTED FROM JUNE,19, 2007