Some news from around Pennsylvania

Little Blog Blue congratulates Rick Santorum on being the most disliked Senator in the entire country.

The Washington Post has a summary of some of Don Sherwood's recent fundraising. He has received $26,000 from the PACs of the House Republican leadership. An interesting note is that the money can be used for either election or legal expenses. That's a relief as I was wondering how he was going to pay his lawyers.

The civil war in the PA Republican party has spilled into Montgomery County. The County Chairman is instructing people to back off the pay raise. If the reaction on GrassrootsPA is any indication, he may have thrown gasoline on the fire.

For news, opinions, and issues affecting the people of Upstate Pennsylvania check out the The Bud Angst Report. He covers taxes, protests, hunting and more.

LVDem covers several interesting stories at Keystone Politics. A bill has been introduced in Harrisburg to scrap emissions testing of cars that is probably going nowhere because of federal mandates. He also gives an update on the Allentown mayoral election and pay raise repeal-not. But the best story is about a controversy involving a singing parrot:

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) -- A yellow-naped Amazon parrot from the National Aviary in Pittsburgh sang 'How much is that doggie in the window?' and 'Alouette' to surprised senators Tuesday. The parrot, named Groucho, sat on a perch in a Senate visitors' balcony and sang in a warbling, croaking voice for several minutes after Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll, who presides over the chamber, formally recognized the bird and an aviary staff member with it.
Immediately afterward, Sen. Robert C. Jubelirer, the chamber's president pro tempore, was seen scolding Knoll on the Senate floor.

The last few days the Blogfather has been pointing out just how stupid some of the arguments in Washington are. People aren't so much concerned about Harriet Miers, Roe vs. Wade or teaching evolution as they are about heating their homes this winter. And he takes exception to my snarky comments about Cheney's visit. I don't think it is possible to wage class warfare today. I remember at the last Republican convention they declared the War on Poverty to be over, the poor lost.