PA School Choice Bill Doesn’t Offer True Choice

Pandering To Inner City Reps Could Doom Passage

                                 

And so it begins.  The first challenge to Governor Tom Corbett is upon him.  Surprisingly, it’s not from public sector unions, trial lawyers or natural gas opponents, but from within his own Party. 

It’s a challenge that, if handled the right way, would send a message that the Corbett Administration will turn Business As Usual on its head.  If not, the GOP caucus could factionalize, in turn jeopardizing a host of other tough issues on the Governor’s agenda.

And it all revolves around misguided school choice legislation that would do more harm than good.

*****

This being School Choice Week, it’s ironic that the Pennsylvania Senate choice bill --- introduced with much hoopla ---  would neither improve schools nor offer true choice.  Instead, it is legislation stuck in the past, once again pandering to the wrong crowd --- the Black Caucus. These are the folks that some choice advocates still naively believe are necessary to court in order to achieve even a modest school choice victory.

They were wrong fifteen years ago, and they’re wrong now.  In fact, not only is Senate Bill 1 a bad bill, but one that will have a difficult time passing.

At issue is the program being limited to low income families, defined as those whose income is at or below 130 percent of the federal poverty level – a family of four would qualify at $28,000 household income.  And that’s after a three-year phase-in. 

Left out of the equation is….everybody else. 

Pennsylvania’s students are subpar across the board --- inner city, suburb and rural.  Not only can they not effectively compete with their counterparts in other states (they are 42nd in SAT scores), but, as a whole, are part of our nation’s systemic educational failure.  America’s students consistently rank near the bottom in math, science and literacy when compared to their global competitors.  And since this is an ever-increasing world economy, that’s a recipe for disaster.

The days of competing with Seattle and San Francisco are over; our best and brightest can barely keep up with average students in Singapore, Stockholm and Sydney.

And yet we’re supposed to believe that an extremely limited school choice program for relatively few inner city students is going to be the panacea? 

Give us a break.

One of the bill’s prime sponsors, mid-state Republican Jeff Piccola, should know better.  A longtime champion of education choice, Piccola has nonetheless dropped the ball on this bill, buying into the politically-correct hype that having at least one black legislator on board is the only way to assure passage.  So he allied himself with Democratic Senator Anthony Williams from Philadelphia.

Williams, you may recall, threw himself into last year’s governor’s race late in the game, backed by a few wealthy supporters who pumped more than $5 million into his campaign.  One of Williams’ major issues was school choice.

Fine.  The fact that Williams, up to that point, had never been a leader on school choice raised a few questions, but give him the benefit of the doubt that he is now a choice advocate. But to what level?

True believers realize that school choice will only work if the vast majority of students participate, something impossible with the Piccola-Williams bill.

Why should Williams care?  His constituents will benefit, but the other 99% of Pennsylvania families will be left out in the cold.  Not a tough choice for Tony.

But for the majority of legislators who will be asked to make a tough vote, look for them to start pushing back, countering with a simple message to the bill’s prime sponsors and the Governor:  do it right, or not at all.

*****

The reason this bill is doomed is simple.  As it stands now, suburban and rural legislators will be asked to incur the wrath of the teachers’ unions (who stand adamantly opposed to the accountability that school choice legislation would bring), while their constituents would not benefit in the least. 

And make no mistake about the teachers’ unions.  While they spent millions in last year’s election cycle, and were soundly defeated, their forced union dues make their campaign war chests virtually unlimited.   Being a presidential election year, 2012 should prove more favorable to them, and they will be unleashing their fury with a vengeance.

So the suburban and rural legislators would make a difficult vote --- and get the worst of both worlds.  Not only would some face tough, union-backed opponents in primary and general elections, but would also feel the anger of constituents who still wouldn’t have a choice where to educate their children. 

But here’s the biggest irony.  The Black Caucus, all Democrats, would almost unanimously vote against the choice bill to avoid union anger.  With a sly smile, they would cast that vote full-well knowing that their constituents would be the beneficiaries.

How’s that for political cowardice?  But it’s what we’ve come to expect from the Black Caucus. 

This is politics at its worst. Vote against a bill that would help the people in your district while hanging your selfless colleagues out to dry, undoubtedly thinning the GOP ranks in the process.

For the Republicans to agree would be an act of monumental stupidity.

There’s another reality that makes this bill almost obsolete, even if it does pass.  Because comprehensive school choice wasn’t passed in 1995, a number of nonpublic schools have since closed, making the options for the low income families that much more limited.  So we would blow another three years on a worthless bill that would realize no significant gains in educational improvement.

Here’s a newsflash for those not familiar with Pennsylvania’s precipitous decline : we can’t afford to twiddle our thumbs for three more years, pretending that the inner city schools are improving, while in reality we fall that much further behind the competition.

The Black Caucus isn’t needed to pass statewide school choice; political will is.  While the education of our children should never be a partisan issue, if you can’t pass school choice with sizable Republican majorities in the House and Senate and a friendly Governor, you’re never going to.

No matter how principled a lawmaker, there are virtually none who should make this vote in the name of Party unity with the upside so small and the downside so large --- potentially large enough to cost them their seat and hurt all Pennsylvanians.

Undeniably, the current system has failed. But the good news is that school choice works. The tragedy will be if we punt away the best opportunity in Pennsylvania history to turn the state around.  If we do, you might as well start converting your dollars into Chinese yuan.

Chris Freind is an independent columnist, television commentator, and investigative reporter who operates his own news bureau, www.FreindlyFireZone.com
Readers of his column, “Freindly Fire,” hail from six continents, thirty countries and all fifty states. His work has been referenced in numerous publications including The Wall Street Journal, National Review Online, foreign newspapers, and in Dick Morris' recent bestseller "Catastrophe."
Freind, whose column appears nationally in Newsmax, also serves as a guest commentator on Philadelphia-area talk radio shows, and makes numerous other television and radio appearances, most notably on FOX.  He can be reached at CF@FreindlyFireZone.com

Martin Luther King: A True Republican

Up until the 1930's, the majority of blacks were Republican, proud to be in the Party of Lincoln.  The song that would become the national anthem of the NAACP, Lift Every Voice and Sing, was written by a black Republican in 1900 to celebrate President Lincoln's birthday.  Nine years later, on Lincoln's 100-year birthday, the NAACP was formed, with a number of founders being white Republicans.

Fast forward to the 2000 presidential election.

George W. Bush captured a mere eight percent of the black vote.  Eight percent!

Questions:

A)    How did that happen?

B)    More important, how can the GOP rekindle the relationship with one of its most natural constituencies?

Answers:

A)    Incompetence, a lack of foresight, political expediency---and FDR's New Deal.

B)    Bold, aggressive leadership that ignores political correctness. This means going for the jugular of all who label real solutions “racist" or "bigoted”.

Answer B, applicable to solving most of our problems, is simple, just not easy.

So has the GOP made progress? Unequivocally, the answer is No.

It’s been ages since the Party ran a presidential candidate who could heal the wounds and be a uniter, and 2012 looks to be more of the same.

For evidence, look at what happened during the last campaign. The four GOP frontrunners --- McCain, Romney, Thompson and Giuliani --- deliberately skipped an important debate on race relations, citing lame excuses for being no-shows.

Truth is, they refused to attend for a simple reason. They looked at how many blacks vote Republican, and, figuring they would get pummeled by the primarily black audience (it was held at historically black Morgan State University), stayed away. 

After that act of cowardice, “Freindly Fire” rained fire on those Republicans:

“Any Republican who believes the status quo is acceptable---and a deliberate absence at such an event makes that their position--- doesn't deserve to lead our nation.  Running for President should not just be about cozy fund raisers and scripted speeches to friendly audiences.  It must be about tackling the most pressing issues, even if it means walking into the lion's den, standing your ground, and outlining your vision for success.”

John McCain epitomized the status quo, and, not coincidentally, got crushed in the election.

The Republicans are in desperate need of a leader willing to stand up and embrace Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., someone who can credibly remind blacks about their former alliance with the GOP.  But most of all, a leader who can explain to blacks that they are still Republican in their values, and to show them the way home.

Dr. King espoused Republican ideals more eloquently than most.  Look at the words in his most famous statement: “I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character”.  Is there anything more Republican than that?  True Republicans strive to live in a color-blind society, where people are judged by their deeds, not their skin pigment.

Ironically, many GOP leaders who advocate merit over skin color fail to practice what they preach.  Courted for their “blackness,” Michael Steele was chosen to head the Republican National Committee, and Lynn Swann to run for governor of Pennsylvania in 2006. Both men were inherently unqualified for those respective positions, and both were soundly, and embarrassingly, rejected.  It is clear the Republicans learned nothing from Dr. King.

A guiding principle of the GOP is personal responsibility, and no one epitomized that more than Dr. King. He never ran from the law during a protest, nor did he label his arrests and imprisonment as persecution. Unlike so many leaders in both political Parties, he never engaged in the blame game.

In fact, it was the opposite --- Dr. King never complained about the consequences of his actions. Knowing the high risks, he took full responsibility for those actions, innately understanding that the only way to achieve freedom was to work within the American system, changing it from the inside by winning the hearts and minds of the American people.

Most blacks find themselves in the same position as rank-and-file union members.  Both share the core beliefs of the Republican Party, but suffer because their leaders sold them out long ago in favor of personal agendas and Democratic sweetheart deals--- contrary to the interests of those they represent.

Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, the CBS executive involved in Don Imus' firing, congressional leaders...the list is long.  Yet God forbid a black person speaks truthfully on sacred-cow “black” issues! That just isn’t permitted, so when it rarely occurs, personal insults and vicious attacks immediately follow.  Look at the heat Bill Cosby took when he scolded the black community for using excuses and not improving themselves through personal responsibility.  He was demonized by black “leaders” nationwide.

But he was right.

Who is most affected by violent crime?  Who is most impacted by outrageous taxes and ever-increasing public transportation fees?  Who, more than anyone, strives for a solid family unit, knowing the catastrophic results of children growing up without a father?  As a group, who opposes same-sex marriages more than any other?  And who better understands the reality that many of our failed public schools, especially those in the inner city, have become literal battle zones—-and that the only way to achieve a quality education, and with it one's dreams, is through parental choice in education? 

Black Americans.

Bold leadership isn't going to garner the Republicans a huge vote swing in the next election---you don't reverse eighty years of thinking overnight.  But if the GOP does the right thing, for the right reasons, the votes will follow.

And on the race relations issue, doing the right thing is as simple as black and white.

Chris Freind is an independent columnist, television commentator, and investigative reporter who operates his own news bureau, www.FreindlyFireZone.com
Readers of his column, “Freindly Fire,” hail from six continents, thirty countries and all fifty states. His work has been referenced in numerous publications including The Wall Street Journal, National Review Online, foreign newsApapers, and in Dick Morris' recent bestseller "Catastrophe."
Freind, whose column appears nationally in Newsmax, also serves as a guest commentator on Philadelphia-area talk radio shows, and makes numerous other television and radio appearances, most notably on FOX.  He can be reached at CF@FreindlyFireZone.com

Pro And Con In Philly.com: Taxpayer Bailout For Shipyard?

Chris Freind off FreindlyFireZone.com takes the con position in Joe DiStefano’s Pro & Con in Philly.com’s Business Section today. Should taxpayers save the Aker Philadelphia Shipyard, as attempted by Gov. Rendell, when there are no buyers for its ships?

Weigh in with a comment...

http://www.philly.com/philly/business/Reader_Why_US_PA_should_save_Aker_Phila_shipyard.html

Another Rendell Bailout: Build Ships With No Buyers

Corbett Can Drop Anchor On Governor’s Taxpayer Boondoggle

In the movie Dave, Kevin Kline plays a presidential lookalike who finds himself running the country after the real President falls into a coma.  Convening a Cabinet meeting, this political novice uses common sense to expose the ludicrous mentality of the entrenched Business As Usual crowd.

Kline asks the Commerce Secretary about an ad campaign his Department has implemented to boost consumer confidence in the American auto industry.  “It’s designed to bolster individual confidence in a previous domestic automotive purchase,” the Secretary proudly explained.

Speechless at first, Kline fires back, “We're spending millions for somebody to feel good about a car they already bought? I don't want to tell an eight-year-old kid he's gotta sleep in the street because we want people to feel better about their car. Do you want to tell him that?”  The shocked Secretary (finally) sees the light, and the program is eliminated.

Incredibly, that mentality isn’t limited to fictional Hollywood scripts, but is a large part of the way our governmental leaders operate. Look at what Pennsylvania’s Ed Rendell is trying to pull off before he walks out of the Governor’s Mansion a few weeks from now.

Shortly before leaving office, Rendell authorized $42 million in taxpayer money to be sent to the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority (PRPA) to help bail out the sinking Aker Shipyard in Philadelphia.

The funding, we are told, would prevent Aker from going under, since it would be building two new tanker ships.  

Of course, there’s one small problem.

There are no buyers for the ships.  And the prospect of that changing course anytime soon is virtually nonexistent.

Thousands of ships worldwide are lying at anchor because of the global recession, idled indefinitely because the demand for shipping is dismally low.  It’s gotten so bad that some ship owners are even scrapping their vessels to eliminate harbor costs, receiving pennies on the dollar. But the remaining glut of vessels is still huge, depressing prices for the foreseeable future.

So, let’s be “Dave” for a second and get this straight.

Rendell wants to spend money --- our money, since there’s no such thing as “state” money --- to build ships…that no one is going to buy, ostensibly so some 1,000 workers can keep receiving a subsidized paycheck. And since there aren’t any buyers, the ships obviously wouldn’t be built-to-order, further devaluing them and making their eventual purchase all the more difficult.

Rendell may not care, but I certainly wouldn’t want to tell a mother that her child died in a bridge collapse that resulted from a lack of maintenance --- because $42 million was spent on ghost ships instead of bridge repairs.

But what type of Rendell move would it be if he didn’t take care of his political pals and big-time fundraisers?

The Chairman of the PRPA is none other than John Estey, former Rendell Chief of Staff and a longtime partner at Ballard Spahr, the Guv’s old firm which has received the lion’s share of millions in no-bid legal contracts from the state.  And guess who the outside counsel of PRPA was?  Ballard Spahr.

This is the same John Estey who is also Chairman of the Delaware River Port Authority (DRPA), which is intricately linked to the PRPA, sending millions their way over the years.

The DRPA couldn’t dole out legal contracts fast enough to Ballard when it served as its outside counsel --- over $3.2 million since Rendell was elected in 2002, up from $480 the year prior. And when Chairman Estey voted to approve those legal bills, he was, in fact, approving funds that went directly to Ballard --- his own firm. 

Ballard and its associated entities, by the way, have contributed $1.5 million to Rendell.

The Philadelphia Port Authority is nothing if not politically-connected, too: two Board members alone have donated over $350,000 to the Governor’s campaigns.

It must be nice (and lucrative) to represent both Authorities when all that “Other People’s Money,” to quote the legendary Vince Fumo, is flying around, but that’s another story.

But to make the story even more interesting, enter Manny Stamatakis, Chairman of the nonprofit Philadelphia Shipyard Development Corporation.  That is the entity which will receive the $42 million so it can buy Aker assets and lease them back to the company as part of the bailout.  Some might call that a shell game.

“If they don't build these next two ships, this yard is shutting down," Stamatakis was reported as saying.  Well then, let’s not mess around, Manny.  Let’s make it $420 million and employ 10,000 workers.  Or even $4.2 billion so that Aker can build 200 ships.  No one will buy them, either, but so what?  We’re keeping people employed and the political-elite will be happy.

Ironically, the entity that should be in the best position to throw money Aker’s way would be the DRPA with all the economic development money it controlled.  But it was under Manny’s watch as DRPA Chairman that much of the $500 million in such funds were blown --- pretty much on everything not related to bridges or ports.

And now Stamatakis is Chairman of the Shipyard Development Corporation.  Go figure.

Hope is not lost though.  Attorney General Tom Corbett must still approve the contract.

Sources have told Freindly Fire that the lobbying on Corbett to let this contract sail through before his January 18 gubernatorial inauguration by has been extremely intense.  Given the Rendell Administration’s track record with these types of contracts, that should be red flag enough to put the brakes on this deal until all questions are thoroughly answered.  And clearly, questions abound.

The Rendell legacy has been one of abject failure for all Pennsylvanians not linked at the hip to the Governor, and the attempted Aker bailout is a perfect illustration of how he achieved that dubious status.

Like two ships passing in the night, Corbett and Rendell could not be any more different in their direction. Here’s hoping Corbett drops anchor on Rendell’s last hurrah and charts a course for safer harbors.

Chris Freind is an independent columnist, television commentator, and investigative reporter who operates his own news bureau, www.FreindlyFireZone.com
Readers of his column, “Freindly Fire,” hail from six continents, thirty countries and all fifty states. His work has been referenced in numerous publications including The Wall Street Journal, National Review Online, foreign newspapers, and in Dick Morris' recent bestseller "Catastrophe."
Freind, whose column appears nationally in Newsmax, also serves as a guest commentator on Philadelphia-area talk radio shows, and makes numerous other television and radio appearances, most notably on FOX.  He can be reached at CF@FreindlyFireZone.com

Freindly Fire’s Biggest Losers Of 2010

The nature of New Year’s is to look at things in a positive way, but truth be told, it's a lot more fun to tee off on those most deserving of our wrath, ridicule and pity.

So now, Freindly Fire’s most deserving Losers of the Last Year:

Dick Clark

How do you criticize a man whose stroke of good fortune made him the real American Idol for several generations of Americans?  Not easily.   But Freindly Fire has never stroked egos to make nice; the sad truth is that Dick Clark’s time has come and gone.  His continued presence on ABC’s New Year’s Eve program is an embarrassment to the network, and, whether he knows it or not, a humiliation to Clark. 

His incoherence is a morbid fascination for millions, to the point where viewing Clark’s gaffes has itself become a New Year’s Eve tradition.  He was fantastic in his prime, and his courageous comeback was admirable. But let’s face it.  One last go-round would have been more than enough inspiration for people with debilitating conditions.  The prolonging of Clark’s once-proud career has made him the butt of tasteless jokes, unfortunately validated by his woeful countdown to the stroke of midnight.

Even talentless host Ryan Seacrest looks uncomfortable trying to understand, let alone converse, with Clark.  Like an aging athlete whose time to hang it up is obvious to all but himself, Clark is trying to maintain a relevance that is simply impossible to achieve.

To salvage whatever’s left of his dignity, please, ABC, pull the plug on Dick Clark.

Teachers Unions, Trial Lawyers, Taxers and Tea Party critics

Throughout Pennsylvania and nationwide, all four spent millions this campaign season --- and all got shellacked.

For the first time, more candidates than not took a hard-line stance against unchecked lawyer greed, fat union contracts, organized labor’s outrageous demands, and increased taxes.  And the fiery Tea Party made sure those issues remained at the forefront of the election cycle.

The result?  Hard to say.  Despite their vanquishing, none of the losers is going away anytime soon.

Facing a brand new phenomenon called accountability, teachers unions will use their unlimited campaign war chest (obtained through forced dues) to dig in hard against pension reform, school choice and public education funding cuts.  Trial lawyers will continue to write big checks, since tort reform threatens their very survival (and the number of Mercedes in the driveway). Taxers will again try to handcuff the Marcellus Shale natural gas industry by imposing job-killing extraction taxes and fees, and Tea Party opponents are looking to prove their nemesis to be a One-Hit Wonder.

However, special mention in this category goes to State Representative and House Democratic Campaign Chairman Mike Gerber of Montgomery County, who, just one month before the election, arrogantly boasted, "We will hold and maybe even expand our majority." In fact, under Gerber’s watch, the Republicans gained 13 seats (and the Majority) despite being outspent by $1.3 million.  With that kind of predictive accuracy, maybe he should be a weatherman.

Tucker Carlson

Filling in as host for Sean Hannity on FOX, Carlson said that Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick should have been executed for killing dogs in his dogfighting operation. 

What a buffoon.  

Does he really believe that? Common sense would say “No,” but he appeared deadly serious. 

Look. What Vick did was heinous and inexcusable.  But he served his time, and appears to be penitent.  How he behaves moving forward will tell a lot about whether he is truly sorry.

But Vick isn’t the issue.  Carlson’s cheap shot to gain a brief bit of fame is. 

Equally as pathetic was Carlson deriding President Obama’s decision to thank Eagles’ owner Jeff Lurie for giving Vick a second chance.  Carlson’s rant demonstrates why the media is so scorned by the American people.

With all the legitimate issues with which to differ from the President, why would Carlson criticize Obama for his phone call discussing redemption?  Because wannabes like Carlson, despite all their posturing about how pure, conservative and Christian they are, really only care about themselves and the headlines they can generate. 

Issues and ideology take a backseat to vain ambition, even when that means injecting oneself into the story. And every time irrelevant issues like this get raised, meaningful debate about what really matters takes a hit.

Since shills like Carlson impugn the credibility of real conservatives, FOX should make him their fire hydrant.  And hell, come to think of it, even Dick Clark would be an improvement.

Americans

No, not the people, but the position in which they find themselves because Government has grown on such a massive scale under both Republicans and Democrats. We now have bankruptcy-level debt, pension bombs, a healthcare fiasco, labyrinthine bureaucracies and bailouts for Wall Street fat cats.

Yet with all the government intervention, the people are no safer; in fact, their economic and physical security have never been in greater peril. 

With no southern border wall, illegal invaders continue to enjoy unfettered access to America, leaving a wake of destruction in their path.  Jobs are lost, wages depressed, crimes increase, and the culture is forever altered. And when the federal, state and local governments coddle these lawbreakers, respect for the rule of law goes out the window.

However, all that will pale in comparison to when a terrorist saunters across the open border with a suitcase nuke.  

And the complete lack of an independent energy policy has left the people bent over the (oil) barrel of nations that don’t exactly have Americans’ best interests in mind --- despite the fact that the United States has more energy resources than the entire Middle East combined.

But the people have no one to blame but themselves.  Remember just two years ago when gas was $4.50/gallon, fuel tanks were being siphoned dry, and there was an outcry for offshore drilling and nuclear power?  Where was our resolve to see those things through?  Nonexistent.

Prices dropped because the economy tanked, and Americans quickly forgot that pain.  Well, the economy is still in the toilet, yet gas is approaching $3.50, and the former CEO of Shell just predicted $5 gas by next year. 

Trying to resurrect a moribund economy with skyrocketing fuel prices is most definitely a losing proposition.

University of Pittsburgh

Pitt recently fired football coach Dave Wannstedt, and, on December 16, hired Mike Haywood as his replacement.  On January 1, Pitt fired Haywood. 

Why the musical chairs?  In Wannstedt’s case, it was simple: he didn’t win enough games.  No issue there. But not so with Haywood.

He was arrested on a domestic battery charge involving the mother of his child, and was canned immediately by the University. So much for due process.

Admittedly, it’s not an easy position for the Pitt football program --- trying to maintain continuity and effective recruiting amidst negative headlines and a cloud hanging over the coach. 

But some things are infinitely more important: loyalty, fairness, and the one Pitt so callously forgot about: that innocent until proven guilty thing. Aren’t these the values our institutions of higher learning are supposed to teach?  Or are they just classroom theory, never to be practiced in real-world situations because they require effort and backbone?

The cowards at Pitt didn’t even have the common decency to meet with Haywood face-to-face, instead putting out a press release of his firing.  What class.

And what happens if the charges are dropped or turn out to be fallacious?  What if Haywood is acquitted? The fact that a man’s reputation and livelihood hang in the balance is obviously of no consequence to the Pitt braintrust.

Kind of reminds you of how Duke University treated the men’s lacrosse team after they were charged with rape: their season immediately cancelled, openly chastised by their professors, and treated like pariahs by the University.

Duke jumped the gun, just like Pitt. And as it turned out, the accuser lied, the prosecutor was dirty, and the players were innocent.  But hey, never let the facts get in the way of covering your derriere, especially when an Ivory Tower university might actually have to practice what it preaches --- and teaches.

Shame on Pitt for becoming yet another in the long list of universities to worship at the altar of political correctness.

*****

One can only hope that some of this year’s Losers graduate from the list, while others (especially the “Four T’s”) make it their permanent home.  But through it all, there is one unifying thread: common sense, backbone, and a stiff resolve are the best ingredients to avoid being one of the Biggest Losers Of The Year.

Chris Freind is an independent columnist, television commentator, and investigative reporter who operates his own news bureau, www.FreindlyFireZone.com
Readers of his column, “Freindly Fire,” hail from six continents, thirty countries and all fifty states. His work has been referenced in numerous publications including The Wall Street Journal, National Review Online, foreign newspapers, and in Dick Morris' recent bestseller "Catastrophe."
Freind, whose column appears nationally in Newsmax, also serves as a guest commentator on Philadelphia-area talk radio shows, and makes numerous other television and radio appearances, most notably on FOX.  He can be reached at CF@FreindlyFireZone.com