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Another guest post. I got this as an email and the author agreed to let me publish it.
Dear Mr 42
I know your blog has been much about the congressional races as of late but I would like to point out one down ticket race that is intriguing, the Mundy v Goldsworthy v Mullin race. Put a fork in Mayor Goldswothy, he will finish a distant third. He might be a fine gentleman (I really don't know) but he likely wont even have a polarity in West Pittston given fellow Republican former council people there are involved so heavily helping Representative Mundy nor does he offer any real solutions.
It is the Tea Party favorite, Mr Mullin that is the fiercest challenge to the incumbent. Mr Mullin had over 2000 signatories on his petition and given the population of yards signs out there he is obviously a force. While he may seem to be quite from a less then informed perspective, he has a whisper campaign going that has gathered some steam. Yet this kind of campaign demands to be shown the light of scrutiny. I am sure if many of those who were angry as hell when he knocked on their door understood his philosophy, they might view him in a different light if they actually knew what it meant to vote for him.
In his web site he proudly exclaims that he has an almost lifelong association with the John Birch Society. Now if you were a person who paid little attention to such matters or were born after living through he sixties maybe you don't know what the JBS represents.
The JBS'ers are so outside the mainstream that they opposed the civil rights movement including the Civil Rights Act of 1964. So extreme that even noted libertarian Ayn Rand considered them "futile because they are not for capitalism but merely against Communism".
The Southern Poverty Law Center has them on their Patriot Group Watch List. Nor could William F Buckley marshal a single 'polysyllabic exuberance' for the group as he excluded them from C-PAC because he believed them to be racist. The JBS is so far outside of acceptable parameters they considered President Eisenhower a Communist and thought fluoride in the drinking water was a government plot.
Maybe it is clear that I support Ms Mundy as she has been incorruptible in her advocacy for hardworking families, health care and utility cost containment, regional economic development and defense of the environment as well as her real commitment to constituent service. Yet that is hardly my point. It is the duty of the media to bring the relevant issues to the public when it come to gathering information for the voters to base the choice for whom to vote. The choice is left to each voter but it is only an easy choice if the public is informed.
Now who's job might that be? Have we become so docile in our tolerance for such extreme views that any view is held at an equal level to the rational voices on either side. The newspapers have completely let us down as they profit by the conflict of our choices rather than by the solutions someone might bring to the table. So I ask you again why isn't such information being brought forth? Is that not the job of the bloggers to take on the extremist among us. Friedrich von Schiller once said "Against stupidity, the very gods themselves contend in vain". Becoming informed is the only known cure for stupidity (although maybe someday we can put something in the drinking water). Go to it my good man. Please enlighten us.
Sincerely,
Bob McDonald, Kingston PA
5 hours ago
22 comments:
Phyllis Mundy is lockstep with Todd Eachus...incorruptible???? How about this editorial from the Citizens Voice. Sadly, three local state representatives, Todd Eachus, Phyllis Mundy and Karen Boback voted with the legislators who took what was originally a good open records law and turned it into a secrecy in government document. Is that how a newspaper let you down, by exposing the truth???
The Birchers have been around a long time and anyon who ever took the time to look into the JBS could tell you they are a wild group with little concern for civil rights and shhot from the hip when it comes to putting people down. As for Bill Goldsworthy, he has made a living off political contracts and even as a Republican he has eaten at the Democrat trough. His loyalty is to himself and he is his own biggest fan. I admire Phyllis Mundy and I appreciate that she is the only local Representative to take on Blue Cross for raising rates while sitting on a huge surplus. If we don't send Phyllis back to Harrisburg, we need our heads examined.
From Rock The Capital..Phyllis Mundy kept the illegal pay raise.
Rep. Phyllis Mundy (D-Kingston). Rep. Mundy voted for the pay raise, voted to repeal pay raise, but is keeping the “unvouchered expenses” she collected. “At the time the vote was cast there had been three court decisions upholding the constitutionality of ‘unvouchered expenses,’ Mundy said. “There was nothing unconstitutional about what we did. Now the Supreme Court is reversing itself. That does not mean at the time the vote was cast it was improper.” (Times- Leader, September 16, 2006)
From Rock The Capital
http://www.democracyrisingpa.com/data/org/66/media/doc/8768_dr_pay_raise_rtc_5th_anniversary_report_7-6-10.pdf
Per diems: Rep. Mundy captured 207 per diems in one 18 month period and
netted $27,952. (Shamrock Times, November 14, 2006)
And exactly what happened to those Blue Cross rates...Up 28% She didn't do a thing about it except get a headline to make us think she did.
McGoof, looks to me like you have too much time on your hands. Maybe you have a political job and you have all the time in the world to be obnoxious.
Dear Mr. McDonald, The only thing in your piece that you are dead on with is the following I have gathered and the threat I have become. First let me go back some 37 years ago as a teenager that had a minor brush with the law. As it so happened one of my accomplice's uncle was the detective that caught us and "sentenced" us to attend John Birch Society (JBS)meetings at the detective's fathers house. It tells you a little about how minor things like that were resolved back then.I attended less than half a dozen meetings total. Back then I learned lessons that I use to this day. "Radical" ideas such as adherance to the Constitution as it was originally intended, and other "radical" ideas such as sound money (ie. a gold backed currency, gold, or silver). In fact I used those "radical" lessons to this day recently when I maxed out my home equity line to buy gold at $750/oz. Two spendthrift presidents and their cronies at the fed telegraphed to me that they were going keep interests rates at zero, spend us into the hole, them pay it all off with printed money (quantitative easing, monetization, legal conterfieting, or whatever you want to call it). I've been a buyer ever since. In my door knocking, I always hand out literature about the Libertarian Party, not the JBS, which I was never a member of. My somewhat liberal social positions would conflict with the religious overtones of the JBS. For anyone interested I encourage you to go www.jbs.org to see first hand what radicals the Birchers are. They sound a lot like Henry, Jefferson, and Franklin to me, but that is what passes for radicalism today. If all the ammunition you have on me is a handful of meetings I attended 37 years ago as a 15 year old, I suggest you and your bunch focus on solutions to the issues at hand like I do. Tim Mullen
Tim, nice response but I'm still going to vote for Phyllis Mundy. I honestly feel that she has been a good Representative. She gives outstanding constituent service and even if she didn't stop Blue Cross from their rate increase, she did try and she was the only Representative who did try. I have nothing against you but I want to have Phyllis and her seniority in Harrisburg. I don't want to start over for no good reason. Phyllis has worked hard and deserves our support.
Anonymous, Many people tell me what you do. I respect that opinion. I represent the other side of the equation. Those that are tired of paying for the goods and services that they feel are of no value to them or that they cannot afford. This race should not be about side shows such as Phyllis Mundy is a crook, or Tim Mullen is an extemist. Tim Mullen
This op/ed piece sounds like Mullen is hurting Mundy
Well, if it isn't Mundy then I hope it will be Mullen. Goldsworthy is the last person we should be sending to Harrisburg. From what I'm heaing from friends in West Pittston is that they don't care if he goes to Harrisbur, Pittsburg or Noburg, jus so that he goes! Apparently Toni Valaenti also wants Goldsworthy to leve town becaue its been said that she is supporting Goldsworthy. If that's so, you can bet she wouldn't be helping Goldsworthy if her mentor was around.
I don't live in that district, but I wish I did. I would probably vote Mullen. My district I get either Mr. Bland (Mike Carrol) a decent guy who has the emotion of wood or some clown who thinks it is halloween year round. In serious times I will probably vote AGAINST the person who I take the least serious the clown.
The only thing Mundy was ever good for is spending other peoples money. It's over. Libertarians never win, despite everything, Republican is the only choice for sound government, build it back up again.
So, Tim, I suppose if the NAZI's were fiscal conservatives you would be on track with them too, as you are with the Birchers???
Reublicans will put us back on track? Your out of your friggin mind! Damn it man, have you no sense at all? Better you don't vote, just go directly to the nut house or if its full, just go to the house of assholes.
Phyllis doesn't do anything. She bragged about getting 5 bills authored and passed in 20 years. She brags about jobs she brought here-unemployment is at 10%. She said she helped lower BC rates_they have increased over 35%. She said she helped lower utility costs-PPL went up over 30%. So how is she doing??? Vote Goldsworthy he at least speaks his piece and gets thing done.
Mr Mullen
I totally agree that politics is all to often about sideshows. Yet isn't it important to understand the people we elect to such important offices? If you are going to help write the laws that hold power over me, shouldn't I learn what informs your decision making?
So you say with pride that you first started to form your political philosophy from attending John Birch Society meetings. You say you no longer go to their meeting but you still send me to their web site. After reading their positions my first question is; does the basic tenets of their political positions still inspire you? For example do you question that it is a proper role of government to inspect food? Or do you believe that food inspection is just another way that government controls us?
OK, I will take you at your word and accept that your philosophy has grown and is now shaped more by the principles of the Libertarian Party. Which leads me to other questions: Like where if anywhere should the Government set standards? How free is free when you talk about free markets? What about gay rights or smoking?
A person who described himself as your campaign manager (Mike A) wrote me and ask me if I would like to interview you instead of pulling things from your web site. I wrote back and said that I would be interested in what you had to say and I of course would be respectful. I love my country too much to even think of acting otherwise. Remember I am a guy who respects the government and how we form it. Mike or Joyce (from your staff) will know how to get in touch with me to set up an interview. And thank you for having the guts to participate in the political process. You do provide an important voice. Respectfully, Bob McDonald
Forget all of that. This dude defends the bircher's? I'm not reading anywhere in his 2 reply's that he denies what they stand for either. Should restaurants be able to say we don't serve your kind here? Tell us Timmy.
What about Goldy? He the one who is the loose cannon!
Re: McGruff and the per diem issue.
If McGruff (or Goldsworthy, who is also talking about this issue) has ever worked in private industry, he has probably received per diems himself. I received them while traveling on business for employers. You (reader) have probably done so too if you traveled on business for employers.
Per diems mean simply that your employer gives you a reasonable amount of money per day for travel expenses instead of having you itemize your expenses and provide receipts--it relieves the employer of the need to go through all the paperwork.
As another example, your employer can compensate you for 50 cents per mile for business travel (or you can deduct this on your taxes) instead of going through receipts for gasoline, repairs, auto insurance, and so on to calculate the exact amount. Check the IRS Web site for the current rate, but I am pretty sure it is 50 cents--it was actually higher a while ago when gas prices exceeded $3.00.
It seems to me like Mr. Goldsworthy and his cohorts are fabricating an issue out of whole cloth, as if per diems were some nefarious scheme as opposed to a perfectly legal and generally accepted practice in the business world. A look at Goldsworthy's campaign site tells me why he needs to do this; he has no issues on which to run (like genuine health care reform, stopping Blue Cross from doing whatever it feels like doing, and so on).
Hopefully the Republican Party will not take away my elephant trunk for saying this but it cannot expect me to support or vote for empty suits on the basis of "Elephant good, donkey bad."
Mullen actually offers far more substance than Goldsworthy but he was less than truthful when he said Phyllis Mundy was responsible for raising property tax rates, noting that the Legislature has no control over property tax rates. Mundy DID support legislation that uses gambling revenues to reduce property tax rates!
Re: Anonymous "Phyllis doesn't do anything. She bragged about getting 5 bills authored and passed in 20 years. She brags about jobs she brought here-unemployment is at 10%. She said she helped lower BC rates_they have increased over 35%. She said she helped lower utility costs-PPL went up over 30%. So how is she doing???"
Unemployment is at 10 percent because people think we can make money by trading in mortgage-backed securities, dot-com stocks, carbon credits (as promoted by Al Gore, Barack Obama and Joe Sestak), or gold (as promoted by Tim Mullen here and Michael Savage on his radio show) as opposed to growing, mining, and making things. Phyllis Mundy did not cause any of these problems.
If we want to fix the blame for unemployment and economic decline, we should look at employers who are too lazy and incompetent to make jobs capable of paying American wages and who ship those jobs to China instead. Then there are Wall Street speculators, the kind whom Henry Ford said were unfit to run any business because their eye was always on the dollar and not the job, who gave us the current economic mess and who are now agitating for cap and trade so they can profit from commissions on trading in carbon credits.
Yes, Blue Cross has managed to force through some of its rate increases. I wonder how much higher those rates would be had Rep. Mundy not opposed them as she did.
Tim Mullen said, "In fact I used those "radical" lessons to this day recently when I maxed out my home equity line to buy gold at $750/oz. Two spendthrift presidents and their cronies at the fed telegraphed to me that they were going keep interests rates at zero, spend us into the hole, them pay it all off with printed money (quantitative easing, monetization, legal conterfieting, or whatever you want to call it). I've been a buyer ever since."
The problem with gold is that it produces absolutely nothing. A few hundred years ago, the Dutch bid up the price of tulip bulbs to astronomical prices whereupon the market crashed when people wanted to sell. I recall that something similar happened to those who cornered the silver market in the 1970s.
If you are worried about inflation, buy something that produces a resource like coal, oil, or whatever. I admit that the energy fund I bought a few years ago is currently below where I bought it but, if inflation occurs, the price of the product will also go up. Rare earths (the lanthanum series in the Periodic Table) also might be a good investment. The difference between them and gold is that they are vital to many manufacturing processes including the defense industry, and China owns 97 percent of the world's supply. In other words, gold is valuable only because of its perceived scarcity plus its limited use in some industrial applications but the rare earths are actually used widely to create many products.
By the way, I think Phyllis' position is that we need to grow, mine, and make things rather than speculate in gold, which suggests to me a better understanding of economic reality and what we need to do to create high-wage jobs.
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