Barack Obama in Philadelphia on Tuesday

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The Obama plane will be landing shortly.

In an email to supporters, Sen. Barack Obama acknowledged that – enough with the suburbs – the big guy is coming to Philadelphia. A press release that was released from his campaign today read as follows:

Chicago, IL – The Obama campaign announced today that Senator Obama will campaign in Philadelphia on Tuesday.  Further details will be announced as they become available.

How celebrities recover from scandal

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In a stellar example of evergreen journalism, the Philadelphia Inquirer also had a little fun.

Tired of celebrities, politcians and other public figures taking the same route of recovery after some scandal, most usually of their own making? Well, apparently so is the Inqy.

They’ve set up a “Redeemability Quotient,” a mathematical formula to see how well or if at all someone could clean their name up after a public relations stumble.

Check it out, well worth the time.

Temple Owls are going dancing!

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(Photo of Dionte Christmas and Mark Tyndale in tonight’s game in Atlantic City, N.J., taken by Kevin Cook of The Temple News)

Four years ago I matriculated into a large, urban American research university with one of the more successful men’s basketball programs in the country. Trouble is, it was on the way out.

Legendary Coach John Chaney retired and the Owls hadn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 2001 – including all of my years of cheering on the time. Of course, that is before tonight, when Temple beat arch rival St. Joseph’s, 69-64, in the championship game of the Atlantic-10 conference tournament, giving the Owls an automatic bid to the most watched college athletic playoffs.

The Owls were trailing at intermission, and it was looking bleak, but they came out and smothered the Hawks, with whom Temple split their two regular season matchups.

The myth of reason

By Christopher Wink | Feb 27, 2007 | Existentialism

In philosophical discourse, discussions of reason are not without precedence. It seems that all of the great thinkers of the 19th and 20th centuries had thoughts on rationality and its role in history, society and individual decision.

German philosopher Karl Jaspers (1883-1969) is known for his unshakable resolve towards his truth and ethics, so, it is understandable that he held a strong belief in the meaning of reason, as derived from an interpretation of moral action (Kirkbright, 85).

Conversely, a great many other philosophers are more famously tied to the topic in discussions of the ‘myth of reason.’ Prussian-born Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) criticized rationality for its idealism, its ability to be understood and evaluated by the actor. As an example, tying the system of reason to Socrates, Nietzsche suggested that rationality eroded Greek tragedy because it forced the art to follow the forms of its idealism (Stewart, 307).

Continue reading The myth of reason

Free consulting: latest story in the Philadelphia Business Journal

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In today’s edition of the Philadelphia Business Journal, I have a good clip on MBA students in Philadelphia getting practical experience by consulting small businesses in the region.

See its start on the PBJ site. Further reading requires a subscription, so read the text I submitted on this site here.

Writing this story, as a student at Temple, one of the colleges I was asked to cover, brought up some interesting ethical dilemmas. Read more on that here.

Perry Weinstock: doctoring across the river

Interview and article prepared for the Philadelphia Business Journal, as filed last week, without edits, to run in yesterday’s edition.

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His colleagues told him that a move from Philadelphia to New Jersey was a mistake.

Ten years ago, though, Dr. Perry J. Weinstock made the move. He was recruited by Cooper University Hospital in Camden, N.J. as the director of clinical cardiology and associate head of his division in 1998.  For ten years he served the growing research university and served it well. In January it was announced that Weinstock would be made head of the division of cardiovascular disease at Cooper.

“I’ve waited ten years for this promotion,” he said.

Before Cooper,  he was the director of cardiology at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital with a nice office and patients he liked. So, at first, he rebuked calls from Cooper. But the calls persisted enough that he crossed the Delaware River for a tour. He was impressed with the facilities and staff.

“To this day I love Jefferson,” he said. “But, Cooper has really emerged as a premiere research hospital in the Delaware Valley. It is truly an honor to lead such a fine institution.”

Still, more work is to be done, he said. Weinstock has plans to expand the hospital’s preventative cardiology practice.

“I also want to promote quality,” he said. “At all levels of cardiovascular care: inpatient, outpatient, prevention, treatment after the fact.”

He thinks his background in practiced cardiology, rather than strictly an academic, leadership or supervisory role, will help.

“I have actually worked on the battle lines,” he said. “If that general sits in the ivory tower and never gets his fingernails dirty, it’s hard to listen to him.”

For it, he has a lesson, ten years in the making.

“There’s life on the other side of the river.”

See other reporting by Christopher Wink here. Above, an artist’s rendering of Cooper University Hospital after impending renovations, taken from the hospital’s Web site.

Keith Olberman weighs in on Ferraro controversy

MSNBC’s Keith Olberman took on the controversial comments made by Sen. Hillary Clinton adviser Geraldine Ferraro, who was the first female major party candidate for vice president in 1984 with Walter Mondale. The comments, which Olberman quoted from a Feb. 26 Fox radio broadcast were as follows:

If Barack Obama were a white man, would we be talking about this, as a potential real problem for Hillary? If he were a woman of any color, would he be in this position that he’s in? Absolutely not.”

Here the talking head and former ESPN commentator on the subject in his “Special Comment” address.

Philadelphia region with new heroes, bank cash

Firstrust Bank - plaque for donation

Interview and article prepared for the Philadelphia Business Journal, as filed last week, without edits, to run in tomorrow’s edition.

Heroes aren’t born.They’re made, at places like the Montgomery County Tactical Response Training Center.

The 23,000-square foot weapons and anti-terrorism building in Conshohocken was built at a cost of $10.8 million with the help of more than 50 corporate and private donors, like Firstrust Bank.

“As a bank, safety and security are important for us,” said Tim Abell, president and chief operating officer of the Conshohocken-based bank.

With nearly a third of their 24 locations, including their headquarters, tucked in Montco, it makes sense that they would be willing to put up their $100,000 contribution.

Late last month, Firstrust and the other donors that helped see the center’s construction through to its opening last November received recognition from the Police Chiefs’ Association of Montgomery County.

The center, which is on the grounds of the Montgomery County Public Safety Training Campus, will train thousands of law enforcement officers, emergency medical service technicians and firefighters.

“There are so many great causes,” Abell said. “But these are things that we think fit our mission.”

It isn’t the only philanthropy in which the 74-year-old bank involves itself. Each year, it gives about $1 million to various causes, including a decade-long relationship with City Year, which unites young people throughout the country in one year of full-time service.

Still, this cause isn’t overshadowed. The money that Firstrust donated went to fund the construction of the center’s firing range, preparing law enforcement officers to use deadly force, if ever necessary.

“You wouldn’t want to be in the line of real fire and have it be the first time you’re going through that,” said Abell. “Fortunately I wasn’t the target. I was at the other end.”

See other reporting by Christopher Wink here.