The lawyers relief ordinance

CV: The city of Hazleton will hold a special meeting Friday afternoon to vote on a revised illegal immigration ordinance. Council will convene at 4:15 p.m. for the first reading of two ordinances that will take the place of an ordinance passed in July. Advocacy groups and local attorneys filed a lawsuit against the original ordinance - which aimed to punish those who employ or rent to illegal immigrants and make English the city's official language.....

Once a new ordinance is passed, the plaintiffs suing the city will be permitted to amend their lawsuit and file for an injunction, according to a legal agreement between lawyers from both sides.

What a joy for all the attorneys involved. Endless litigation while billing by the hour. Somehow I get the feeling that Hazleton will drop this nonsense sometime after November 7.

Skrep knows football

CV: Luzerne County Commissioner Greg Skrepenak will serve as a high school football analyst for a local television station this season.

Skrepenak will appear on WYOU telecasts at 11 p.m. on Thursday nights throughout the season to preview games and provide analysis on prior games' outcomes. He also will appear on the station's Friday night post-game show.....

Skrepenak expects some people may disagree with his decision to appear on the telecasts. Skrepenak plans to run for re-election next year and the analyst position does provide him a different kind of access to Luzerne County residents. Politics has nothing to do with why I am doing this," Skrepenak said. "It's always nice to be visible, but (WYOU) came to me. I did not seek this out. They were looking for someone who had a good knowledge of football and someone who understands high school sports."

Skrep has been active in high school sports for a long time and is a natural choice as a local football analyst. But being on TV in non-political forum can't hurt his election chances just remember what Eagles Post Game Live did for Governor Rendell.

Not aware of the calendar

TT: U.S. Rep. Don Sherwood has postponed a Towanda fundraiser scheduled for Sept. 11 after realizing it conflicted with events commemorating the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attacks.
The congressman instead will attend several events related to the anniversary .

Jake O’Donnell, a spokesman for Mr. Sherwood’s campaign, blamed an “aggressive fundraiser” for scheduling the event at the Riverstone Inn and Wildfire Grill without the congressman’ s knowledge. The morning fund raiser, for which donations of $100 to $1,000 were asked, would have coincided with the time when terrorist-commandeered planes crashed into the World TradeCenter, the Pentagon and western Pennsylvania.

“To tell you the truth, the schedule was made and he wasn’t aware of it and he was looking at his schedule and saw that he had (9/11-related) events and he postponed it (the fundraiser),” Mr. O’Donnell said .

The congressman might have been unaware of the schedule
earlier because he was recovering from heart surgery last month, Mr. O’Donnell said.

Convenient excuse. He was to sick to realize what he was doing. Maybe he will use that explanation to excuse his voting record over the last 6 years.

Cheney to the rescue

Vice President Dick Cheney will visit Northeastern Pennsylvania later this month to raise campaign money for U.S. Rep. Don Sherwood, whose re-election bid just got some bad news.....
The fundraiser — rescheduled from months ago and costing $1,000 a person and $1,500 a couple — is set for Sept. 18 at the Dallas farm of Harold Flack, the co-owner of Diamond Manufacturing Co. in Wyoming and one of Sherwood’s major Republican contributors.

I think this is good news. Keep throwing good money after bad.

Bye Bye Barons

Last year I attended 2 Red Baron games at Lackawanna County Stadium that Ryan Howard hit a game winning home run. In past years I watched Jimmie Rollins make an incredible grab and throw off the wrong foot and still get the runner. I remember Pat Burrell hitting the ball into the field beyond the fence and rehab starts by the Kruker and Schilling. So many memories.

Now the Phillies AAA team is leaving because the team is owned by a local government that has no business running a baseball team. Sure the taxpayers should have an interest but it's time for the county to sell the team. Enough of being calm and polite.

HOW FUCKING STUPID CAN YOU BE TO LET THE PHILLIES FARM TEAM GO? YOU STUPID BASTARDS!

Ahhm. So now we look for another team.

Who Will Play at Lackawanna County Stadium?

Our area's AAA baseball team is gearing up for the playoffs in the International League but this will likely be the last time the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons take the field as an affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies.
The Phillies want a new minor league club next year, one that will eventually take up residence in Allentown. That means the local team needs a new major league affiliate and now that the regular season is over, the courtship can begin.....

"As far as we know, there are five teams that have not resigned with their current affiliates. Chicago White Sox, New York Yankees, New York Mets, Baltimore and the Washington Nationals," explained Tony Lomma, authority chairman.

I stopped at my local tonight and everybody was excited that the Yankee farm team was coming here. I'll believe it when I see it.

Carney up by 7

A new independent poll by RT Strategies/Constituent Dynamics puts Chris Carney up 7 points over Congressman Don Sherwood in the 10th Congressional District race:

RT Strategies/Constituent Dynamics, Aug. 27-29, 2006

Chris Carney: 50%

Don Sherwood: 43%

Sample Size = 1008 -- MOE 3.1%

Partisan ID: 54% Republican, 32% Democrat

Full Results are available online at:
http://www.constituentdynamics.com/mw/2006/index2.html

Polls are snapshots that track movement. Right now the movement is to Chris Carney as people realize that the country has not been served well by Don Sherwood and the rest of the Republicans that have running things for too long. This is the 2nd poll this week that shows Carney surging. And this whole 9/11 fundraiser debacle hasn't hit the news yet. You just may read about it tomorrow.

There is a great story about the race by Howie Klein of Down With Tyranny and an interview with Chris at firedoglake.

That didn't take long

PA-10: Sherwood Nixes Event On 9/11; Blames "Aggressive" Aide

As we reported below, Dem candidate Chris Carney's campaign slammed GOP Rep. Don Sherwood today in an interview with Election Central for sending out an invite for a fundraiser set to take place on 9/11. Now a rep for Sherwood has gotten back to us -- he acknowledged the event had been planned and emailed a statement saying that that the event is now off. "The fundraiser scheduled for next Monday was postponed," Sherwood adviser Jake O'Donnell emailed Election Central. "The Congressman has an aggressive fundraiser who okayed it originally. The event will be rescheduled for a future date."

As with most Republican politicians when something goes wrong it's not their fault. In this case it was an "Aggressive Aide." I have it from a very unreliable source that the Congressman was unavailable for comment because he was finishing his summer reading list of the Kama Sutra and the complete works of the Marquis de Sade.


A big thank you to everyone who linked to my previous post. There are too many to list but I'm very grateful.

Sherwood is having a fundraiser on September 11th

Is this guy as dumb as a box of rocks or sharp as a loaf of bread?

Congressman Don Sherwood is having a fundraiser on September 11, 2006 in Towanda that is being hosted by a couple of special interest PAC’s. It’s a bargain; you can buy a Congressman for only a couple of hundred bucks.

In the primary he sent out a direct mail piece attacking Kathy Scott by name when nobody knew he even had an opponent.

Now this.




When every other politician in America is going to be in Washington, New York or a field in western Pennsylvania this guy is going to be raising money.

h/t to Down With Tyranny and apologies for the late link.

MTP debate,yawn

I have a busy schedule today so just a quick hit on the MTP debate between Rick Santorum and Bob Casey. I'll have more later. Overall I thought that Tim Russert did a good job of holding both of their feet to the fire and didn't interrupt when they mixed it up. With the expectations for Casey so low all he had to to do was speak in complete sentences and Santorum needed to avoid saying anything outrageous. For the most part they met those goals. A few blogs have the post game spin up. John and Alex are doing a tag team at Santorum Blog. Randy lost the battle of the remote to his daughter (I'm with her, cartoons are better) but has his first impressions at PennPatriot. LVDem at KP thinks Santorum sounded angry. Susie goes into the Social Security question at Suburban Gorilla and Atrios turned it off.

Dead heat

Sherwood, Carney tight

The incumbent congressman leads by 4 points, but margin of error makes it even.

A partisan poll commissioned by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee shows a statistical dead heat in the race between incumbent Republican Don Sherwood and Democrat Chris Carney.

The poll of 402 registered voters in the 10th Congressional District, taken Aug. 21-23 showed Sherwood with 46 percent, Carney with 42 and the rest undecided. The margin of error is 4.9 percent.

The poll sample was 50 percent Republican, 39 percent Democrat and 11 percent independent or third party, according to committee press secretary Sarah Feinberg.

As with all partisan polls you have to take it with a grain of salt. They polled registered voters not likely voters and show only 12% undecided. Everybody knows about Sherwood's problems but Carney is still working on his name ID. I can't find a breakout on the DCCC website but Sherwood's negatives have to be through the roof. The feedback I'm getting from people I know in the district suggest it may not be this close. People know Sherwood and are disgusted with him but they don't know enough about Carney yet. As they find out more Carney I think he will be able to close the sale.

More rain

The remnants of Ernesto are starting to rain down on Northeastern Pennsylvania and the anxiety level is rising along with the Susquehanna River. We have had one major flood scare this summer and may be in for another. For many people it was more than a scare. Last week we had flash flooding all over the Wyoming Valley. This was a serious event that even threatened the beer supply.

WILKES-BARRE — The Lion Brewery will likely remain closed until next week, halting production after Tuesday’s heavy rains ushered several feet of water into the basement.

The brewery shut down Tuesday afternoon after a storm drain overflowed, spilling over into the parking lot and brewery, said Chuck Lawson, The Lion Brewery president. Water rose as high as 7 feet in the cellars.

But disaster was averted.

None of the beer was contaminated, Lawson said. Finished goods are kept in a separate warehouse, so they were not affected. However, various ingredients and flavors stored in the basement did come into contact with water and will need to be discarded.

I'll have to ask John if the Yuengling brewery is on high ground.

What people in Luzerne County pay for always low prices

This one is for Patricia. I spotted a LTE in the TL about the employment practices of People Republic of China-Retail Division.

Looking from the inside out, having worked for Wal-Mart for the last 15 years, it seems quite noble of Wal-Mart to increase the starting pay rate. But, there is where the nobility ends and the question of loyalty lies.

With their starting rate increase, there enters a salary cap. I, along with many, many other longtime employees, now face a stagnant wage. We will see the cost of living skyrocket but not the long-term employee pay rates. No yearly raise (which was the norm), no incentive raise, nothing. Premiums we pay for insurance will increase as they have in the past, in which our raises did not even cover them, but our salaries will not. Maybe I sound like I am whining, but we are not bringing $50,000-to-$60,000-a-year jobs here. We are making a modest living, nothing more.

You work for the biggest company in the world for over 15 years (others more) and you are told no more raises. What could trigger this move? The answer’s not very hard. They said the line is long to get a job at Wal-Mart. That may be true, and so is this -- the new Exodus is coming. And that’s what they want. Move on, employees who might actually be making a decent wage. Go find another Promised Land.

Is this the vision Sam Walton had?

Robert James Wilkes-Barre

Meet the Candidate

Number 88 will be available for autographs

Republican gubernatorial candidate Lynn Swann will be stumping in Scranton and Wilkes-Barre this weekend, according to his campaign office.

Tomorrow morning, Swann will attend church at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Wilkes-Barre and then make an appearance at the grand opening of Victory Center, 41 S. Main St., from noon to 12:30 p.m. Victory Center is an organization that supports Republican candidates and is funded by the Republican State Committee of Pennsylvania.

Swann also will attend La Festa Italiana on Courthouse Square in downtown Scranton from 3:30 to 5 p.m.

Ricky and Louie, a love story

Since Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta sponsored the recent Santorum Re-election Fear, Hate and Division Act, aka Illegal Immigration Relief Ordinance, he has become a media darling and hero to the Flat Earth Society. I even heard a rumor that Lou Dobbs and Pat Buchanan want to take him to dinner but he has resisted their advances because his heart belongs to Ricky. Now Rick has moved on from the immigration issue to advocating starting a war with Iran-what the hell, the one in Iraq is going so well-Lou seems just a bit jealous and wants some attention. Just like Glenn Close, he will not be ignored. It's just not fair that the big cities get to have all the debates. Barletta suggested a debate be held between Santorum and Casey "here in Hazleton on the issue of illegal immigration, if no other topic. Let them debate what we're doing here in Hazleton." I bet he will even let that awful Bobby Casey into town after he checks his papers.

The Red Barons are being deported

From We Should BE GM's:

Say "good-bye" to Scranton Wilkes-Barre after this year and "hello" to North of the Border. That's right, the Phils Triple A team will reside for one season in Ottawa, Canada. While a stadium is being readied for an Allentown home for the Lil' Phils in '08, they'll partake of some Molson and bacon in the '07 season.

It's one way of reducing the the local Hispanic population. With all the Latin players on the team being forced to leave the country it should make Lou Barletta and Rick Santorum very happy.

One less place to build a WalMart

Tree farm will be preserved through county program

When Sugarloaf Township farmer John Wolk sold the development rights to his farm on Monday, he said it was a simple decision for a simple reason.

Sure, there is a nice financial incentive that comes with selling the development rights under the Luzerne County Agricultural Preservation Program. Wolk admits the monetary aspect is nice, but for him there is a more important reason behind the preservation.“Is the money you get for preservation equal to what a developer would pay you? No,” Wolk said. “It’s strictly for the love of farming that we protect farms from development.”

The Wolk Brothers Tree Farm encompasses more than 200 acres and is farmed by John Wolk and his brothers, Albert and James. Monday’s transaction preserved 78.8 acres of the farm, and the family enrolled another 73 acres in the program in 2004. To date, the program has preserved 14 farms totaling more than 1,500 acres of farmland in the county.

It may keep a lot of developers away from the area in general because they know there’s a lot of large tracts preserved,” he said. “Someone who doesn’t farm may find it hard to believe that farmers are so attached to the land, but it’s in our blood and we love what we do.”

The North Branch Land Trust was instrumental in making this happen.

The Beach Boys

CV: The Beach Boys’ free concert is still on for Sunday at Kirby Park despite a rainy weekend forecast....The concert, originally scheduled for July 3, was rescheduled after days of soaking rain flooded Kirby Park. Heavy rains Tuesday and the chance of rain this weekend sparked concerns it may be canceled again. As of now, however, the concert is still on...About 30,000 people are scheduled to attend the free concert Sunday. Kirby Park will open at 10 a.m.

Grasping at straws

So Rick Santorum accuses Bob Casey of missing a few days from work while running for office. This is coming from a guy that has been in Virginia-er-Washington for 16 years and has run for office 5 times. He is also a member of the present Congress that has been in session the fewest days since 1948. Which is alright by me. The less time this bunch spends in the capitol means we are that much safer from them. What have you been doing with all that extra time Rick?

Now he is trying to pin the pay raise on Casey. Let me get this straight. It's Casey's fault that the Republican Legislature passed a pay raise bill in the middle of the night (with plenty of help from the Democrats) that the Governor signed into law with some crazy unvouchered expense clause that the courts found to be OK? I know you are trying to find an issue guys but it's hard. Bobby is pretty much squeaky clean. He pays his bills, he goes to work and provides for his family. The same thing Ricky does. Only he doesn't bill the Penn Hills school district for educating his kids in Virginia, get mixed up in some quasi-charity that pays people on his campaign staff or advocate starting another war, this time with Iran.

Thanks to 2 Political Junkies for pointing out the court decision. Rick thinks this issue has legs. Penn Patriot keeps repeating the phrase unconstitutional pay raise. I read the PA Constitution tonight and the state treasurer is only mentioned twice in the document. Both times about process but not about responsibilities. I'm sure that Sen. Santorum has read both documents, maybe he should read them again.

New Chris Carney ad and some good news

Carney for Congress - 2nd TV Spot - "Jennifer and I"

Clarks Summit, PA-In the August 25th, 2006 edition of the Rothenberg Political Report, A Nonpartisan Analysis of American Politics and Elections, Stuart Rothenberg calls Carney/Sherwood race for the 10th District a “Toss-up,” which is an upgrade from his previous ranking of “Lean Republican.”
In his analysis, Rothenberg notes that “Cong. Don Sherwood has had plenty of problems,” and he calls Chris Carney “an interesting challenger.” He goes on to say that Sherwood’s grip on the District is “tenuous.” In conclusion, he says that “This is a very interesting Democratic opportunity and a GOP headache in a very Republican district.”
Rothenberg divides House races into “toss up,” “lean,” and party “favored” categories. In this latest issue, he noted that the PA-10 race is a Toss-Up that “tilts” Republican, reflecting the make-up of the District.

I don't hate anyone

When I disagree with the policies of the present government people start yelling I'm a Bush hater. When I disagree with our junior senator people say I'm a Santorum hater. A few days ago I heard a remark that I must be happy that Don Sherwood is in the hospital. Far from the truth. I disagree with these people politically and will oppose them but I wish them all well. I think Bush, Santorum and Sherwood should look forward to a long and well deserved retirement. Starting as soon as possible.

I am not an illegal alien

From Mark:

"Just for the sake of accuracy, Gort is not the real name of that aforementioned local blogger. His real name is Klaatu Schwartz and he hails from the distant planet Blogtune. He claims to have been raised locally, but he is lying to you. He landed on this planet in 1951 and has been using our resources ever since. Simply put, he is an illegal alien and LouBarletta should get after him pronto."

Barletta, the FBI, MI5. They are all on my ass. I have many enemies and will now appear in in public only in drag. An informed Wyoming County minister recently informed me that I hate America. Since I always believe everything my religous leaders tell me I just may move to a monastary and light candles for GWB everynight.

May the Schwartz be with you.

The video may not load. So here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0se1QBBOso