Eagles 13 Bengals 13

Cincinnati Bengals receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh, right, scores (AP Photo/Tom Uhlman)

For the first time since 2002 a NFL games has ended in tie. The mighty 1-8 Bengals matched the Eagles in mediocrity. Donovan McNabb had 3 interceptions and they dropped a bunch of passes. The defense played well enough to win but just like last week the lack of a running game sunk them. Well, maybe not sunk but like Joe PA said, a tie "is like kissing your sister." On the up side Mrs. G has found her new favorite name of a player, Houshmandzadeh. She said it's right up there with Vladimir Guerrero.

Secretary of State Hillary

When I first heard this speculation I dismissed it. Why would Hillary Clinton want to give up a Senate seat for life to take a cabinet post and why would Obama want her in the government?



Now I think making Hillary Clinton the Secretary of State is both good politics and good government.

I love all the Machiavelli/Godfather/Team of Rivals references about keeping you enemies closer than your friends. That works in Hollywood and cable TV but that's not all of it.

It's good politics because it would co-opt a rival and avoid sniping from the sidelines.

It would be good government because Hillary has been travelling the world for years and knows many of the players and they know her.

America will present a new united face to the world.

YouTube weekend

Pink Floyd Dog Music Video





I posted some Humphrey pictures on my Facebook page.

Todd Eachus wants to be House majority leader

Luzerne County State Rep. Todd Eachus , who ran the Dems' fall campaign effort, wants to be the majority leader of Pennsylvania House after some modest success increasing the Democratic majority by 2 seats. He is taking on current House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese and Frank Dermody of Oakmont.

From a PR:

“The people of Pennsylvania spoke clearly last Tuesday. They want access to affordable health care for people of all ages. They want to know their children are getting a good education. They want to know that there will be good jobs available for them and for future generations. They want safe roads and bridges and a brighter future for all of us.”

We all want those things but his support of the fantasy cargo airport near Hazleton gives me pause. He inserted a $16.5 million authorization for the cargo airport in a House bill listing projects under the Pennsylvania Gaming Economic Development and Tourism Fund. Shortly after that I got a curious piece of mail from Eachus paid for by the taxpayers claiming 100,000 jobs could be created. It was unusual because I'm not even in his district. So far there is no anchor tenant such as FedEx or DHL. Well, forget DHL. The slots money was supposed to be used to lower our property taxes and people like Eachus keep finding new ways to spend it on other projects. Enough of that. They really need to rewrite that law.

According to Capitol Ideas, who gets to read Capitolwire because he has an expense account, DeWeese is probably going to win re-election to his leadership post "unless, of course, he doesn't."

Tweety for Senate

I still think that Chris Matthews is using this possible Senate run as a negotiating ploy in his contract talks with MSNBC. But if he did make it to the Senate it would make C-SPAN a lot more entertaining. Will the gentleman yield? NO I WILL NOT. Let alone when he would be the presiding officer.


Now they are even polling the possibility. From TPM:


The new numbers from Public Policy Polling (D): Specter 40%, Matthews 27%, and a very high 33% undecided.

The internals have good news and bad news for both candidates. Specter is below 50%, a bad place for an incumbent, but he's grabbing 30% of Democrats and a 41%-28% plurality among independents, indicating that he's able to draw some crossover support like he usually has in his previous races. If he can solidify the 32% of undecided GOP voters, he would basically have it made.

He might even be serious about this as he told the Colbert Report in the spring:

"Some kids wanted to be a fireman. I wanted to be a Senator."

My blog buddie Alex has some thoughts on the possibility; that there are people in Pennsylvania who would reflexively vote a) against a Republican or b) against Arlen Specter?
Stunning. I had no idea. Really. None. What. So. Ever. None.


Then there is the residency issue. I don't know where Matthew's votes but he has been in Washington for a long time. Rick Santorum got beat up because he really lived in Virginia but I'm sure Chris can buy a voting address in the Commonwealth. There might be a $500,000 fixer-upper for sale out at Harveys Lake that he could move into. But if he is really serious about running for Senator in PA he should buy Joe Biden's old house in Scranton.

Veterans Day

THE HISTORY OF VETERANS DAY

How did your neighborhood vote

If you live in Luzerne County you can check it out. 135,965 people in Luzerne County cast a ballot in the Presidential race with Obama topping McCain by just over 11,000 votes, 53%-45%.


I was interested in how my little corner of the world voted and thanks to the Luzerne County Bureau of Elections website I have my answer. 805 out of 1015 registered voters in Ward 4 of Plains Twp made it to the polls Tuesday for a turnout of 80%. The tally was 426 votes for Obama 55% to McCain's 349 or 45%. Paul Kanjorski also topped Lou Barletta 423 votes (54%) to 364 (46%) despite Mayor Lou winning the neighborhood yard sign war.






There were very few problems on election day in the county and as much as I bash the Luzerne County government I must give credit when credit is due. Director of Elections Leonard Piazza and his staff did an outstanding job. They anticipated many of the potential problems with the iVotronic machines and the non-partisan, non-profit organization VotersUnite.org based in Seattle, Washington cited Luzerne County as a national leader in elections management. They released a scathing report on the business practices of Election Systems and Software (ES&S) who is the supplier of our voting machines. The good news is that Piazza didn't give into the ES&S bullying and blackmail and took control of the machines. The report gives the play by play of what happened. Take a minute and check out pages 40 to 42 of the report.


I have found Leonard Piazza to be one of the most responsive people in our county government. Whenever I have asked him a question he has always got back to me in a few hours. He has been a good leader and manager and the best measurement of that is he has hired very good people to do the job. They even keep their cool even when some candidate wanders into the office at 5 minutes to 5PM demanding all sorts of documents and keep them there for hours after closing time. I hope he runs for elective office such as Controller or Commissioner. Piazza even acts on suggestions from cranks like me who wanted campaign finance reports online. He is one the good guys.

Carney's big win

The challenger didn't lose the incumbent won. And boy did he ever win. In 2006 Chris Carney topped Don Sherwood by 6 points with approx. 110,000 votes to 98,000.

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The incumbent lost that election after his dirty laundry was aired and many people thought it was a fluke expecting the Republicans to take back the seat in 2008. But Congressman Carney had other ideas. He has been a relentless campaigner holding town hall meetings in every part of the district. His part time job as a Lt. Commander (soon to be full Commander) in the US Navel reserve and focus on veterans issues resonated with people I have talked to in the district. He has been a reliable vote for the Administration (urgh) on the Iraq War making it hard for Chris Hackett to run to his right on national security issues. And he brought home the bacon that Hackett derided. With just about every county and municipal government in the district has tapped out on the property tax that barely pays the bills. The only way to build a new fire house or even pave a street is to get a piece of pork. While I agree with Chris Hackett that there should be earmark reform we like our pork, just ask Joe McDade or Don Sherwood.

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After being number one on the hit list of the NRCC it wasn't even close.

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CARNEY, CHRISTOPHER P. (DEM) 159,072 56.4%
HACKETT, CHRIS (REP) 123,06 43.6%

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The thing that really surprised me is that Carney won 12 of the 13 counties that are part of the district. Local Values has a breakdown with percentages but not raw numbers.

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My friends Zen and Joe will argue that Hackett's scorched earth campaign against Dan Muesser in the primary was responsible for his defeat but I don't think that is the case. It was just too big of a win.

“We are the children of coal!”

This is a guest post from my friend Dr. Joe Leonardi about the coal miner stamp. For the life of me I don't understand why this hasn't already been done. There are stamps with Elvis and Love, etc.



Coal miner mentality
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By Joe Leonardi
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“Coal Miner Mentality” is a phrase that is boorishly bandied about to describe many here in Greater Pittston and to a larger extent all of us who reside in Northeast Pennsylvania.
Along with hard scrabble and coal cracker, this terminology is not meant to compliment, congratulate or commend.
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It is most often intended to demean, deride or dismiss the good people of, as Steve Corbett extols, “Hard Coal Country.” How little those outside of the anthracite arena know the offspring of the miners whose labor fueled the industrial revolution.
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My grandfather was an owner/operator of a few mines here in the valley.
Unfortunately for my bank account he was not a coal baron. However, fortunately for my character he was a coal man.
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We, all of us, are the heirs to the throne of king coal – we are the ones responsible to maintain the legacy of those who took from the ground the hard black carbon.
Yet, inexplicably, many look down upon us and our ancestors.
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How is it anything less than an honor to be descended from those who sacrificed so much, but were recognized by so few?
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How can we not revere those that left the sunlight behind and ventured below the earth’s surface to bring forth the precious anthracite?
How can those whose lives, by comparison are easy and risk free – not swell with pride when we recall the men who risked not solely simply injury, but often instant death or worse the slow, suffocating strangulation of black lung to provide a home and life for their families.
The coal miner was not formally schooled, he was educated by the cold realities of a harsh dark world.
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The coal miner was not selfish, he did without, so his children would not need to inhale cancer causing coal dust.
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The coal miner was not weak, through the strength of his spine he provided food for his family.
When I think of a coal miner, I see a strong hardworking individual. One who came to this area looking to improve not his life, but the lives of his children. I see individuals of deep faith, honesty and integrity.
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When I teach a class and look upon the faces of my students, I see the realization of the dreams of those miners who so long ago shortened their own lives so my generation and the following ones, would not have to.
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There is a movement afoot to prod the U.S. Postal Service to issue a commemorative stamp honoring the coal miner. This effort has gone on for many years with zero success.
This is an initiative that yearns for our support.
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I say we wear with pride the badge of honor our coal miner roots inspire. We must look to the terms coal miner mentality, coal cracker and hard scrabble and take them back.
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We must, with pride – own them.
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I demand we proclaim; “We are the children of coal!”


If you are interested in the Coal Miner Postage Stamp I have petitions at my office, please email me DocLeonardi@mac.com for more information.

Sam Guesto will hear your appeal

I'm speechless.


Mediation step now added to appeal


A third mandatory mediation step was officially added to Luzerne County’s assessment appeal court challenges Friday, and Sam Guesto will serve as the mediator.

YouTube weekend

This is why I spend a ridiculous amount of money to see this band.


U2 - Bad

Walter has some questions

I don't cover Wilkes-Barre politics as close as I should. This is a guest post from Walter Griffith. I haven't checked out any of the charges.




Dear Gents,
I did some intense research regarding the District "A" Fund that Wilkes Barre City Councilman Rick Cronauer is so proud of setting up in District A of Wilkes Barre
I spoke at length about 1 hour yesterday with CEO Charles Barber of the Luzerne Foundation regarding the administration for this so called FUND..
Charles tells me that the District A Fund Committee gets together to designate the project that they want to invest the Taxpayers, TAX EXEMPT Contribution to the Luzerne Foundation, to be used for in the City District "A".
The District A Committee then goes to the City Administration, I.E. Tom Leighton, and tells him what they want to do and then the Mayor and his administration go out and get bids from vendors to do the work, because it is City Owned Property, and then the Foundation sends the City a check to pay for the project...
The people of District "A" as well as the committee itself are not aware of this procedure but are being mislead to think that the District A Committee are responsible to distribute the funds, not the City that has left our neighborhoods go in the firstplace, so I feel this is a very misleading enterprise.
I spoke to Rick Gazinski, who is on the District "A" Fund Committee, and was told he wasn't aware that the City of Wilkes Barre is going to be the Administrator of the contributed money from the residents of District "A:" and is also concerned that the residents are not being totally informed by Councilman Cronauer regarding the procedure.
I feel the taxpayers are being Hornswagaled here...the same City Administration that has neglected this District is now going to get money from the residents to do what the same City Administration is receiving our taxes to do for us...they cant handle the tax money we send them every year but we are going to send them more of our money to try to fix it ???? I think the Luzerne Foundation is being used by the City Administration to get taxpayers money for something they are getting our taxes to perform..
The Luzerne Foundation is exactly that, a foundation, and in my opinion cant be used this way..The foundation MUST BY THE NATURE OF ITS CHARTER, be required to get a request for the funding that the District A wants to perform and therefore any City Council member can vote against the resolution to even ask the foundation for the funding to handle the project that the money was placed in the foundation for us to use in District "A" and in fact the other City Council Members can pass a resolution to use that same money to fix items in their Districts...the Foundation cannot just send the City a Check for the project without the City first requesting the funds, or it is called Laundering Money, in my opinion, and using the Foundation for the City Administration benefit under the disguise of a tax exempt contributions not a fair way to get donations for the City Administration to clean up our neighborhoods...
I think Councilman Rick Cronauer should be open and transparent with the residents of District "A" and vote to have the City Administration take care of our neighborhoods with the funds they have received and I also feel the CBGD Money that was recently voted on by City Council "UNANIMOSLY" without discussion, should have not been voted in favor of by Councilman Cronauer because it did not allocate any money for the cleanup of the same items the Councilman says we need to have the City Administration responsible to keep clean..

Kanjo hangs on

“It was an Obama tidal wave and it was very well-organized. There was nothing I could do.”- Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta


Paul Kanjorski won his 13th term in the US House of Representatives by a whisker defeating Mayor Lou by less than 4 points.



The final tally




KANJORSKI, PAUL E. (DEM) 143,246 51.7%

BARLETTA, LOU (REP) 134,077 48.3%


Barletta won 3 of the 5 counties in the district with Kanjo coming up short in his home territory of Luzerne County by about 5000 votes then rolled up big majorities in the Scranton area of Lackawanna County and Monroe came in big for him.

I can't argue with Barletta's assessment and Kanjo did everything he could to ride Obama's coat tails. This ad on the eve of the election shocked the shit out of me. It told me that he was polling behind Obama up here in the Alabama of the north and tied his wagon to the Democratic nominee. Throw in this spot from Hillary and President Clinton's Monday night visit that just might have saved him.

Dan Cheek lists 5 reasons why Barletta lost. "His flaws are many and his upside is almost non-existent. If the Republican Party wants to have a shot in Hell at retaking the US Congress, we need to produce candidates who are electable. In other words, the exact opposite of Mayor Lou Barletta."

McGruff keeps attacking.

Let's see what happens in 2010 when there will not be an Obama tidal wave.

Behind schedule

We will get back to Luzerne County politics next week. I'm working on postmortems of the Pennsylvania 10th and 11th Congressional Districts races so you can rip apart the candidates in the comments. I usually try to do this during the week when people are wasting time at work and not interrupt important things like College and Pro football.

It is time to come together

This is a guest post from Jonathan Tallman who ran for delegate to the GOP convention.


Dear Gort:

The long election cycle is over. After nearly two years of campaigning, the American people have begun to usher in a new president. In American politics, this is typically a time of great jubilation for both Republicans and Democrats. However, over the past couple of elections, I cannot help but notice that dirty politics remains intact even after the American people have spoken. There is no room for this in our politics.


I supported Senator John McCain’s campaign. Although I am obviously upset the results of the election were not in my candidate’s favor, I fully stand behind President-Elect Barack Obama. As a nation, we must remember the power of the people’s voice. We may not always agree on the choice, but I would ask that all would join me in congratulating our new president for a well-fought campaign and a historic victory.

In America, we should always remember to respect the views and opinions of others no matter how much they differ from our own. I ask that we begin to heal the partisan wounds and we move forward to have a worthwhile debate on the issues and remember one thing: we are all patriotic citizens of this great nation and we all want what’s best for our country.

Congratulations President-Elect Obama. Come January 20, 2009 at 12:00 PM, he will be my and your president, and we can all be jubilant for the fact that democracy is still alive and well in our thriving nation.

Sincerely,

Jonathan T. Tallman

Yesterday America hired a new government

It's the way our system works. The people who have been in charge for the last 8 years have not done a good job so we replaced them. Mr. Bush has been the worst resident of the White House in my memory and many of my fellow citizens agree with that assessment. Endless war, Katrina, blowing up the budget, torture, Gitmo, etc. the list is too long to enumerate. The final straw was the collapse of the financial system resulting in a government takeover of some of the largest banks in the world. What's the word to describe the government owning the commanding heights of the economy? Oh yeah, Socialism. I don't think that any Republican could have won in this environment.

The Republicans threw every piece of shit they could come up with at Obama hoping something would stick but it didn't. He has been the target of more smears and guilt by association charges than I have ever seen but he kept his cool. He also defeated the Clinton machine in the primaries that dragged on throughout the spring that I think eventually helped him win the General Election because it brought so many new voters into the process. If you don't think he is tough enough to kill our foreign enemies just remember how he faced down and defeated his domestic opponents.


I have been reading conservative blogs all day that are predicting the end of the world as we know it. Get a grip people. The Republicans have fucked up the government and now the Democrats will put it right.

Pennsylvania results

The readers of Gort 42 called them right.


President

OBAMA, BARACK (DEM)
2,988,522 55.4%

MCCAIN, JOHN (REP)
2,345,058 43.5%



10th Congressional District


CARNEY, CHRISTOPHER P. (DEM)
135,614 56.6%

HACKETT, CHRIS (REP)
103,998 43.4%


11th Congressional District


KANJORSKI, PAUL E. (DEM)
142,720 51.7%

BARLETTA, LOU (REP)
133,365 48.3%


117th Legislative District


BIGUS, RUSS (DEM)
7,718 29.1%

BOBACK, KAREN (REP)
18,780 70.9%

Barry, Paul and Chris

Alice Cooper - Elected

The Top Ten Reasons Conservatives Should Vote For Obama

This a response to my friend Right Winger. Instead of me giving you my Lib/Dem reasons I give you one of your own. Not that it will change any minds.

The Top Ten Reasons Conservatives Should Vote For Obama



10. A body blow to racial identity politics. An end to the era of Jesse Jackson/Al Sharpton in black America.



9. Less debt. Yes, Obama will raise taxes on those earning over a quarter of a million. And he will spend on healthcare, Iraq, Afghanistan and the environment. But so will McCain. He plans more spending on health, the environment and won't touch defense of entitlements. And his refusal to touch taxes means an extra $4 trillion in debt over the massive increase presided over by Bush. And the CBO estimates that McCain's plans will add more to the debt over four years than Obama's. Fiscal conservatives have a clear choice.



8. A return to realism and prudence in foreign policy. Obama has consistently cited the foreign policy of George H. W. Bush as his inspiration. McCain's knee-jerk reaction to the Georgian conflict, his commitment to stay in Iraq indefinitely, and his brinksmanship over Iran's nuclear ambitions make him a far riskier choice for conservatives. The choice between Obama and McCain is like the choice between George H.W. Bush's first term and George W.'s.




7. An ability to understand the difference between listening to generals and delegating foreign policy to them.



6. Temperament. Obama has the coolest, calmest demeanor of any president since Eisenhower. Conservatism values that kind of constancy, especially compared with the hot-headed, irrational impulsiveness of McCain.



5. Faith. Obama's fusion of Christianity and reason, his non-fundamentalist faith, is a critical bridge between the new atheism and the new Christianism.



4. A truce in the culture war. Obama takes us past the debilitating boomer warfare that has raged since the 1960s. Nothing has distorted our politics so gravely; nothing has made a rational politics more elusive.



3. Two words: President Palin.



2. Conservative reform. Until conservatism can get a distance from the big-spending, privacy-busting, debt-ridden, crony-laden, fundamentalist, intolerant, incompetent and arrogant faux conservatism of the Bush-Cheney years, it will never regain a coherent message to actually govern this country again. The survival of conservatism requires a temporary eclipse of today's Republicanism. Losing would be the best thing to happen to conservatism since 1964. Back then, conservatives lost in a landslide for the right reasons. Now, Republicans are losing in a landslide for the wrong reasons.



1. The War Against Islamist terror. The strategy deployed by Bush and Cheney has failed. It has failed to destroy al Qaeda, except in a country, Iraq, where their presence was minimal before the US invasion. It has failed to bring any of the terrorists to justice, instead creating the excrescence of Gitmo, torture, secret sites, and the collapse of America's reputation abroad. It has empowered Iran, allowed al Qaeda to regroup in Pakistan, made the next vast generation of Muslims loathe America, and imperiled our alliances. We need smarter leadership of the war: balancing force with diplomacy, hard power with better p.r., deploying strategy rather than mere tactics, and self-confidence rather than a bunker mentality.



Those conservatives who remain convinced, as I do, that Islamist terror remains the greatest threat to the West cannot risk a perpetuation of the failed Manichean worldview of the past eight years, and cannot risk the possibility of McCain making rash decisions in the middle of a potentially catastrophic global conflict. If you are serious about the war on terror and believe it is a war we have to win, the only serious candidate is Barack Obama.

Pennsylvania Exit Polls

As usual in national elections our polling place was calm unlike what is going on in parts of the rest of the state and country that I'm reading about. The real action is always in the local primaries. I was voter 430 out of approximately 1000 in our district at 2:15PM compared to being number 224 at 5PM in the April primary.

I have never voted a straight party ticket in any election and this one is not an exception. Again I I wrote in Kayak Dude for state rep in the 121st district. Eddie Day Pashinski was unopposed in the general election which annoys me to no end and five of the six state reps up for reelection don't have an opponent in the fall. Put another feather in the cap of our Luzerne County GOP. In the State Treasurer's race I clicked the screen for the Libertarian, McCord will win. On the ballot question I voted no because I always vote no on them.

For the first time since 1996 I voted FOR someone for President instead of voting against the other guy although John McCain has at times run a despicable campaign. I heard all sorts of dog whistles in the Brittany ad and Atrios put it best "He's an uppity negro who wants to fuck your sister." He's the messiah, he's a Muslim, pals around with terrorists and other nonsense that has come from my conservative friends. The latest charge that he is a Socialist is particularly laughable since a Republican Administration has been busy nationalizing the banks. I wholeheartedly voted FOR Barack Obama.

Reverting to form I voted against Lou Barletta in the PA 11th CD race. If you search my archives you will find I have been very critical of Paul Kanjorski and even voted for Joe Leonardi in 2006. I think Barletta has appealed to the absolute worst in people. He has tried to scapegoat the Mexican population of Hazleton saying that they are the source of the city's problems. His famous immigrant ordinance has landed him on Lou Dobbs but just may bankrupt Hazleton. Kanjo is not perfect but he has brought home the bacon just like Dan Flood and Joe McDade and we reelected both of them when they were under indictment and Uncle Paul has not been charged with any crimes. From a bloggers point of view a Kanjo loss would open up the doors to a donnybrook of a Democratic primary in 2010 which would be fun. Even if he wins this it may be his last hurrah and we will have wide open primaries on both sides next time.