Kanjo News

"The president is not a dumb man, he's just not a deep man. He can be a deep man, but he's never had to exercise his brain. He's a DEK (a fraternity guy, pronounced 'deek'). They are the best party guys in the world," -U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski, PA-11(D)

He explains his vote on Iraq:

The Pocono Record


"We were told a lot of things that were incorrect or inaccurate" he said...."They told us all kind of things. That we were under a threat and their information was as complete as possible and they (Iraq) had weapons of mass destruction"...he was shown large pictures of a plane "that looked like a mosquito." Kanjorski was told these were called UAVs — unmanned aeronautical vehicles, the highest black-box weapons we have, and they (the Iraqis) have 1,000 of them, and they can deliver weapons of mass destruction. That included a plane that could spray chemical and biological materials..."the Iraqis never had one damned weapon."


"There was no way they ever took those pictures in Iraq," he said, referring to the UAVs.
Kanjorski doesn't believe the president or the national security adviser lied to him "because I believe they were lied to," he said.


"We invaded a sovereign nation based on a lie."

His nephews keep making news over the Cornerstone thing and being employed by his PAC and campaign committee. We're used to nepotism but the Cornerstone story just won't go away. Now the Navy is asking questions.

The Politico

The U.S. Navy wants a business owned by the family of Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski to hand over a piece of high-tech equipment bought with some of the $9.25 million in taxpayer funds Kanjorski steered to the company.
Except no one seems to know where to find the equipment-

a Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator, also know as a high-pressure pump.

Which brings me to the Yuddy rumour. For a few weeks I've been hearing that State Rep John Yudichak (119th) will take on Kanjo in the primary for the Democratic nomination for the 11th District CD seat held by Kanjorski. One wag said :

I think the time is ripe. the families can't stand each other even though they were allies at one time. Plus notice John's zoning in on health care? great middle class issue. All he has to do is stand up and say, you deserve the same health care the congressman got for his heart surgery. Mcnulty will run his campaign, he has to pay off his wife's direct merchant bill so they'll be plenty of paid media.

Another:

If Yuddy wants to take on Kanjo, now would be the time to do it. The republicans are running so many commercials that it could only help John. And if John runs I think he will win the primary and then have a cake walk in the general.

I asked Yudichak for a comment last week but received no response yet.

Danny had it first.

One opinion

This letter to the editor in the TL caught my eye:

The recent police sting operation that resulted in the arrest of a
Wilkes-Barre man on a prostitution charge was a waste of time. Surely there
must be something more important these officers could be doing to protect
the citizenry.


Sexual acts between consenting adults in
private, whether for money or
not, should be none of the government’s
business. I believe alcohol, tobacco,
and organized religion pose a greater
threat to an orderly society than
prostitution ever could.

For many years
the government raided gambling
establishments until they discovered one day
that they could be a great source
of revenue. If only they could find a way
to put a meter on a hooker.


I’ve noticed that most of those who
oppose the legalization of
prostitution are too old, too poor, or too ugly
to participate.


R. Manson Elsbree Sayre

Joe Peters takes a poll

And surprise, it shows Joe Peters leads Dan Meuser by a whopping 21% to 7% among Republican primary voters in the Pennsylvania 10th CD with 69% undecided. The press release doesn't mention any of the other potential candidates. When told some nice things about Peters the respondents have a favorable reaction and when asked if they would vote for someone who just moved into the district most said that they would be less likely. A swipe at Meuser I presume. I guess we will next see a poll asking if you would vote for someone who's been married a few times. It also points out that he he won nearly 60% of the vote in Pennsylvania's 10th Congressional District in his losing 2004 Auditor General bid.

The 69% undecided is the key as us political junkies are the only people paying attention at this point. And that number is probably higher as the poll probably just measures name recognition but that will change once the candidates start running paid media. Right now I can't even find a website for any of them. The only polling that matters at this stage would be Chris Carney's favorable/unfavorables but I haven't seen any yet. I suspect they are pretty good because our local press has given him generally positive coverage and 2008 looks to be another big Democratic year.

h/t to GrassrootsPA

Labor Day

PSoTD asked a big question the other day; What should the federal holiday, "Labor Day", mean to America? And how should we appropriately honor the day?

I don't have an answer. For most of us Labor Day is just another Monday holiday if you're lucky enough to get the day off. My many years in the hospitality industry meant I worked every Labor Day and Christmas, Thanksgiving and New Years,etc. Maybe it should be a day that everything shuts down. If anything it should be a celebration of unions and the sacrifice of people who came before us to win an 8 hour workday, 40 hour week and a stop of such hideous practices as the breaker boys. People were murdered during strikes because they had the gumption to ask their employers for a better deal. It goes on today.

My Dad worked for the Armor Meat Company on N Penn Ave in W-B in a union shop for over 20 years. There was some sort of dispute that resulted in a strike and the resolution of the strike was Armor packing up the equipment in the middle of the night and moving it to Georgia to a non union shop. Putting everybody here out of work unless you wanted to move to Georgia and take a job that paid half of what you got. We never had a good Christmas after that.

Lawyers, guns and money

Hazleton is looking at big legal bill over the immigration folly. Mayor Lou Barletta's quest for fame might cost the the taxpayers plenty in the coming years. The case been appealed to the 3rd cicuit but according to How Appealing less than 10% of trial judges rulings are overturned. The plantiffs have asked for $2.4 million in legal fees which seems excesive and Mayor Lou is the first to point that out. “We believe this bill is padded with the intent to bankrupt us. I don’t expect any judge will award that amount.” Barletta is still begging for money to pay the lawyers the city hired let alone the damages. I understand the argument against illegal immigration but a liitle town in Pennsylvania can't change federal law. It was stupid to even try.

This country was built by immigrants. There wasn't many rules before 1923 on who could get into the country. Since then the US Government has made coming into the US to live here a living hell of paperwork..

The Day the Earth Stood Still

Is nothing sacred. I picked this up from Mark: I see they are working on a remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still, one of my all-time favorite sci-fi movies. It will star Keanu Reeves as Klaatu. And the menacing robot, Gort, will be played by none other than Rosie O’Donnell. I’ll be at Movies 14 when this one premieres, although, sans the necessary Junior Mints.

What next, a remake of the Wizard of OZ? Sorry guys it's going to be hard to top the original. Some things should just be left alone. According to IMDB and First Showing it will come out in May 2008.

Sports weekend

As expected Penn State clobbered Cupcake U 59-0. Michigan took it on the chin by losing to 1-AA Appalachian State and the Irish are looking at a long season. After sweeping the Mets the Phillies found a way to lose 2 out 3 to the mighty Marlins while the Mets bounced back and swept the Braves. The best story of the weekend is Red Sox rookie Clay Buchholz throwing a no-no in only his 2nd major league start.

Chris Hackett for Congress

He is the owner of OneSource Staffing Solutions and a resident of Shavertown which is an area we call the back mountain that until the last gerrymandering wasn't even in the 10th Congressional District. His press release announcing that he is candidate for the Republican nomination has some red meat for for conservative voters.

Campaign to Focus on Lower Taxes, Job Creation, Cutting Government Waste, Ending Illegal Immigration, Strong National Security and PromotingConservative Pro-Life Family Values

It's hard to argue with the first 3, who isn't for lower taxes, creating jobs and eliminating waste but his idea of strong national security sounds like it came right out of the White House: "Congress is talking too much about how to withdraw from a war Islamic extremists are waging against us and our way of life, and not enough about how to win. We cannot afford to back down from this real enemy." So he has bought into Bush's idea of never ending war in the Middle East, not much difference from Carney.

He wants to stop illegal immigration and favors making English the official language, protect gun rights and opposes tolls on I-80.

We are Penn State

Dan Connor will lead Linebacker U into the opener with Florida International at Noon today and it should be a blowout. I love football but always have mixed emotions when the season starts because it means the end of summer.

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The whole Comcast vs Big Ten Network thing has added a level of frustration that was resolved today when I found out that one of my local watering holes will have the game. Well it hasn't resolved my frustration as I would rather watch the game at home sitting in my recliner yelling at the TV but at least I can watch the game instead of tuning it in on the radio. As luck would have it the one place that I've found that will have the game is Big Ugly's in Wilkes-Barre (map it) which is owned by Luzerne County Commissioner Greg Skrepenak's dad. I hope Skrep is there.

And the Phillies have won 6 in a row.

How 'bout dem Mets

For the second time this season the Phillies swept the Mets and are only 2 games out of first place. Today's hero was Chase Utley getting a game winning hit in the bottom of the 9th, on Tuesday it was Ryan Howard smacking a walk off homer in the 10th. I think the key was that Pat Burrell keeps killing the Mets pitching with 3 home runs in 2 games. On the down side the twins (Alfonseca and Mesa) did their best to give away the game.

What a season the Phightins are having as just about everybody has been on the disabled list at one time or another and they must have used at least 30 pitchers. Give credit to Manager Charlie Manuel for keeping the whole thing together with duct tape, Ben-Gay and just keeping his guys loose no matter what happens. Chris thinks he should be Manager of the Year and I agree.

In the other league the bad guys also used some brooms.

PA 10th CD update

Chris Carney has now attracted at least 5 Republican challengers.

Don Ely, a retired school teacher and minister from Northumberland County is the only one who has officially announced his candidacy for the nomination. Davis Haines of Tunkhannock is someone I've never heard of but he knows State Rep. Tina Pickett and showed up at her picnic. As predicted self described Homeland Security expert and statewide loser Joe Peters has been on the hustings. Greg Skrepenak's (D-Luzerne) buddy Christopher Hackett of One Source Staffing Solutions got some nice press in the Williamsport paper. He emphasized his opposition to illegal immigration, which is standard fare for a Republican, but that is dangerous territory for someone who runs a temp agency.

And the eventual nominee Dan Meuser had a nice interview with Townhall. He bobbed and weaved about Iraq and other foreign policy issues and takes a couple of swipes at Bush. He's against increasing taxes, promotes free trade but doesn't want to screw with Social Security.

I think Meuser will be the nominee because he has the most money, even if he gives some of it to Hillary and other Democrats. The GOP is going to be playing defense in 2008 and having a candidate like Don Sherwood that is willing to buy a seat in Congress will be a great help.

George Bush's tribute to Frank Zappa!

I'm back

Sort of. Keith O's show is starting before football. The Phillies won big today. Cordaro has another challenge to his reelection bid and people are telling me that John Yudichak is running for Congress.

Road trip

See you in a few days.

Take me out to the ballgame

We went to the Red Barons game tonight but it wasn't the Baron's. I don't know many of the Yankee AAA players but if any of them show any promise they will be traded. We started upstairs...

Then moved downstairs.

Big Ten Network and Comcast

Will cable dispute sideline Lion fans?

It still comes down to the sports tier vs. $1.10 a month for everyone. Comcast wants to put BTN into a sports package that people who are interested pay an extra $5 a month and BTN wants to be on basic cable at $1.10 per suscriber. The Chicago Tribune has a good rundown of the dispute. Comcast says that the BTN has a limited appeal and should be put off on a specialty band and BTN calls bullshit on this argument pointing out that they already carry limited appeal channels such as Versus and a bunch of religion and shopping networks. Since Comcast took over from Adelphia they have cut four channels from my local lineup; the WE network(38), ESPN Classic(67), UPN-57 (11) and Newswatch16 (63) and the price went up. Comcast also has entered The Customer Service Hall of Shame.

Happy Babe-Elvis Day

As we pass through another summer without enough holidays I want to remind everyone of my proposal to make August 16th a day of celebration. This is the day both Babe Ruth and Elvis Presley died. Much is being made of the 30th anniversary of the demise of the King but the Babe seems to be forgotten in the hoopla.

We need a day that celebrates our penchant for excess and what cultural icons embody it better? The Babe had a robust lifestyle that is well documented and the King himself expired on the throne. For some reason my letters to members of Congress proposing this holiday have never been answered but maybe I'm aiming too high and we should start with a local event. Babe Ruth once visited Artillery Park and a commemorative plaque is planned. It should be unveiled next August 16th with a festival in Kirby Park where people would play baseball while being serenaded by Elvis impersonators. I'm sure it would catch on nationally.

Chris Carney update

Pennsyltucky Politics points out a really bad idea from Matt Stoller at Open Left. Matt wants to take a page out of the Club for Growth playbook and run ads against Democrats like Chris Carney who voted for FISA or other things that are disagreeable. I'm as disappointed as some of my friends with some of Carney's votes, particularly his unwillingness to vote to end the Iraq occupation. But spending money on attack ads that are only going to help his Republican opponent is not a good use of limited resources. The Netroots has proven to be an effective way of raising money for Democratic candidates and Carney's contributions from ActBlue seems to have dried up. That's his loss. I agree with this comment on the post :

Why single out someone like Carney (PA-10, which you list incorrectly as PA-04 in the main article) whose District is R+8 and is seeking re-election as a freshman?

Here are two options that make more pragmatic sense:

Idea A

Why not focus that same money, time, and energy lobbying members in more Democratic districts where you will (1) likely have more success and (2) not help elect a Republican over an economically progressive Democratic freshman like Carney?....

Note: Carney's District, PA-10, went to Bush 60-40 in 2004. What kind of Republican would replace Democrats who are holding seats like that?

Idea B

Why not focus that same money, time, and energy on electing progressive Dems in current republican-held districts like PA-06 (Gerlach)?

I think Down With Tyranny's strategy is better:

There are various courses of action to take in different districts. Obviously, never vote for a Republican for anything, anywhere. They all stink because their underlying partisan philosophy of Greed, Bigotry, Hatred and Selfishness is just plain toxic. Reactionary and corrupt Democrats who voted like Republicans should never be supported and when primary time comes around they should be opposed.

I doubt if anyone will take on Carney in the primary but if some Democrat ran against him over his Iraq votes it would be interesting.

Will he or won't he

After withdrawing from the ballot because of a legal challenge to his financial disclosure Lackawanna County Commissioner Robert C. Cordaro was nominated by the county Republican executive committee to replace himself on the ballot. If he does accept you can expect another court challenge. He hasn't said yes or no yet but his reelection ads are still running on TV.

And yet another story speculates about Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta's future. Will he run for Congress against Paul Kanjorski or seek another office? He says he will decide by January whether to run for Congress in 2008 which suggests to me that he will pass on a 11th CD run. To take on a long time incumbent like Kanjo he would have to start raising money now.

Summertime