Did Milton Just Save Himself?

Oh, Milton.

The Milton Street trial had gotten a little boring. Okay, two Neiman Marcus employees testified Street bought $11,000 worth of merchandise in cash — but it was at King of Prussia, not Franklin Mills. (Ex-mayor John Street goes to the movies there.)

The rest of the trial, we got testimony that led to reports like this: “Others, such as Rose DiOttavio, president of CoreCare Behavioral Health Management Inc., which operates the Kirkbride Center psychiatric hospital in West Philadelphia, testified that Street was paid $5,000 in 2001 to try to arrange a payment schedule for the company’s large debt to the Philadelphia Gas Works and an additional $18,000 to do the same with the city on its back taxes.” See? That’s about as interesting as one can make that sentence.

But — Hallelujah! — Street testified, and it was like March in Moorestown all over again. People were flocking to the scene to see the show. (Again, think of how great a city we’d be with City Councilman Milton Street all over the news.)

Milton somehow became a tax resister yesterday, saying he had examined the evidence and decided there’s no requirement for citizens to pay a federal income tax. The courts have routinely and unanimously thrown out any “tax protester” claims, ranging from alternate readings, things like “the state of Ohio didn’t ratify the 16th Amendment” and wild conspiracy theories. Me, I’d guess Milton is trying to emulate actor Wesley Snipes (pictured). Yes, even though the courts have consistently ruled against tax protesters, Snipes got off earlier this month. (Ron Paul pays his taxes, as far as I know; he just wants to eliminate them once he’s president.)

Street based his tax protest on the “OMB control number argument,” which is point 4.4 on Wikipedia’s list of statutory tax protester arguments. Basically, some tax forms don’t contain a number from the Office of Management and Budget control, and some people think this allows them to not have to pay their taxes. Are you really surprised that, among all the tax protest arguments Street could have chosen, he chose one of the stupidest?

Later, Street said if someone just showed him the law, he would plead guilty. Then he called all of the prosecution’s witnesses liars. Oh, and he got a black bag full of cash in a hotel like he was a college basketball recruit.

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Ice Continuing To Extract Revenge On Helpless Public

Although the state didn’t have anything resembling the Valentine’s Day stranding of drivers on the highway, Pennsylvania’s roads are still exacting vengeance against the unsuspecting public:

A chunk of ice sailed off the top of a truck and smashed through the windshield of a car driving near Allentown, breaking a woman’s nose.

Thirty-nine-year-old Whitehall Township resident Michele Schneck says she felt like she was a character in the tornado scene of “The Wizard of Oz.”

Yes, the famous scene in The Wizard of Oz where Dorothy broke her nose, but returned to score 45 for Kansas University in a regional final in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament.

Flying Ice Injures Allentown Driver [AP/CBS 3]
Feb. 16: Rendell: Stranding Hundreds Of Motorists On Highways For 24 Hours Not Official Pennsylvania State Policy

I Survived The Nagging Drizzle of 2006

I awoke this morning expecting to find my street paved with ice. I expected to be able to play hockey on Walnut Street, to be unable to get to work without falling several times. I expected The Ice Storm of 2006.

Schools were closing last night! Surely there was a terrible storm headed our way!

I should have known better. Instead of an ice storm, all we got was a nagging drizzle. NBC 10 is still saying that ice could happen, not quite ready to backtrack yet, but it admits this storm’s going to be “mostly rain.”

The only real victim here were the stacks of wet Citypapers strewn in front of unsuspecting coffee shops. Surely the deliverymen would have thought, “Ha! No one will ever see this newspaper, since with all the ice nobody will be able to get into work.”

And the only real danger anyone faced was probably the chance of slipping on the mounds and mounds of rock salt strewn on the pavement and asphalt. Those things could really hurt someone. So be safe out there, people. There may not be ice — but there’s some rock salt out somewhere, ready to make you slip.

Updated Discussion on Today’s Event [Philadelphia Weather]
Morning Commute Could Be Icy [NBC 10]