You're a slave to that machine

Despite the prediction of my friend Dana I still don't have a cell phone. No matter where I'm at people are either talking on one or checking for text messages. More than once I was having a conversation with someone who was distracted by the device and started texting. I asked if they were transcribing our conversation. I think it's rude.

I like a good joke with a cup o' tea

I spotted this at PoliticsPA

A Primary Challenge for Casey?

Add another Tea Party name to the growing list of candidates for U.S. Senate, with a caveat: this one’s a Democrat and a former candidate for Congress.
Brian Kelly, a retired software engineer and former assistant professor from Wilkes-Barre, is planning to throw his hat in the ring against Senator Bob Casey.

You may remember that Kelly ran in the 2010 Democratic 11th CD primary against incumbent Paul Kanjorski and Lackawanna County Commmissioner Corey O'Brien. I anticipated another candidate to enter that race to difuse the anti-Kanjo vote and he was it. Kelly spent very little money and still managed to get 17% to O'Brien's 34% holding Kanjo under 50% that was an indication that Uncle Paul was in trouble going into the fall. That was a fluke that won't be repeated in the Senate race next year.

Kelly has some interesting views for someone running in a Democratic primary. He will be lucky to get 5% from people who just don't like Senator Bob Casey for one reason or another.

I think that Casey has been an outstanding Senator and will be easily reelected.

Dan Hirshhorn has a survey of the legitimate Republican field

GOP fissures hurt Pa. Senate hopes

The TL covers Republican candidate Tom Smith's visit to the area

Tea party leader challenges Casey


The Yonk has more

PA Electoral College votes-NEPA reaction

Bill O'Boyle has the reaction from some of our local legislators on Republican State Sen. Dominic Pileggi's (pictured at right) idea of changing the way Pennsylvania awards it's Electoral College votes. In short the Republicans like the idea and the Democrats hate it.

Congressman Lou Barletta: For me, it doesn’t matter, I’ve been targeted since the first day I was elected. It’s an interesting idea; I’m staying open minded on it.”

State Sen. Lisa Baker: “The proposal is an interesting attempt to find a middle ground between those who want to eliminate the Electoral College and those who want to keep the existing system.”

State Rep. Gerald Mullery: “It’s intended to rob many Pennsylvania voters of one of their most fundamental rights of citizenship – the right to have their vote for president count,”

State Sen. John Blake: “Job creation needs to be our number one priority and unfortunately, the proposed changes to the Electoral College will not put anyone back to work.”

State Rep. Phyllis Mundy: “This is an unfair attempt to stack the deck against Democrats,” she said. “I could never support it.”

State Sen. John Yudichak put it best: “It appears Republicans are not satisfied with comfortable majorities in Harrisburg,” he said. “They want a permanent majority beyond the approach of elections and will employ partisan tactics like gerrymandered districts, voter suppression measures, and now an assault on Pennsylvania’s right to vote for a president of the United States to achieve their ends.”

Dan McCaffery for Attorney General

This dropped into my inbox today


Date: September 27, 2011

Montgomery County, Pennsylvania - Daniel McCaffery announced his candidacy last night for the Office of Attorney General of Pennsylvania. A former Assistant District Attorney and Army Cavalry veteran, McCaffery brings over twenty-years of court-room experience to this office along with the courage necessary to enact real reform in Pennsylvania.

"I am running for Attorney General because I know what I'm doing. I have spent every day of the last twenty years in a courtroom; I've never backed down from a fight and never will." Said McCaffery.

"Over the last five years, we've witnessed a financial meltdown as a result of fraud and greed by Wall street. Millions of families have lost their life savings. These are good hardworking men and women, Pennsylvania families, American families who have lost their life savings, retirements, pensions and their homes. No one is standing up for them."

"As Attorney General, I will create the most aggressive law enforcement agency in the nation, hold these offenders accountable, and bring them to justice... This is about protecting Pennsylvanian Families from financial crimes and rooting out fraud against taxpayers, Political corruption is rampant and white collar crime goes unpunished." Said McCaffery.

The link to his website included in the email takes you to a signup page instead of a welcome page that I find annoying. He also has a Facebook fan page and a YouTube Channel.

He joins Democrats Kathleen Kane and Patrick Murphy in the race. The only announced Republican is State Senator John Rafferty.

Flavor of the month

I remember the last time around in the Republican nominating process when some of my Republican friends thought Fred Thompson was the answer to their prayers because they were unhappy with the field especially front runner John McCain. That worked out well.

This time many of the true faithful want an alternative to next one in line , Mitt Romney. Michelle Bachman created a buzz for a bit even winning the Iowa straw poll until Rick Perry got in the race and stole her thunder. Now Perry is fizzling out after his less than stellar debate performances losing the Florida GOP straw poll to the pizza guy.

So now the hope is that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie will get into the race despite his previous statements like "short of suicide, I don't really know what I'd have to do to convince you people that I'm not running. I'm not running." The blunt talking Governor telling people to
"get the hell off the beach." as Hurricane Irene was bearing down and telling Washington to get it's act together after the disaster

“You want to figure out budget cuts, that’s fine..You’re going to turn it into a fiasco like that debt-limit thing where you’re fighting with each other for eight or nine weeks and you expect the citizens of my state to wait? They’re not gonna wait, and I’m going to fight to make sure that they don’t,” Christie said putting the Tea Party-driven House on notice that its slash and gut politics will not be tolerated.

He also defended his choice of a Muslim as a Judge saying "Sharia Law has nothing to do with this at all, it’s crazy!"

Yep, he will go far in this atmosphere.

Some photos from Blogfest

I decided to do a separate post with a few pictures from Blogfest as I was inspired by LuLac's IN FOCUS feature but nothing can top Yonk's Angels. I lifted a few of these from PittstonPolitics.com Photo Bucket. Note to my friend Joe V., we don't have a spending problem we have an unemployment problem.

The turnout was great again despite the crummy weather. A big thanks to Gene Rooney and his staff for another outstanding job.

Libertarian candidate for Mayor of Wilkes-Barre Betsy Summers with an old Young Democrat Bob Caruso. Bob and I were in the YD's a few years back and I consider him one of my political mentors. We had backing from the boss at the time, Senator Marty Murray. My local committeeman Thomas Shibula and Mike Szustak are now leaders in the organization.

Republican nominee for Mayor of Wilkes-Barre Lisa Cope with Democratic Luzerne County Council nominee Michelle Bednar and friend. The great thing about Blogfest is that party labels are left at the door. Everybody has a good time.

Local blogger Karla Porter did a great job during the latest flood crises setting up a Facebook page that kept us up to date while filtering out rumors that were not true. Duke from Dallas can be heard on WILK in the week's he hasn't been banned by Bosco or Sue. Karin Spak does great work with the Fresh Air Fund. My friend Harry Haas is a Republican candidate for Luzerne County Council.

James O'Meara, Sr. is running as a Republican candidate for commissioner in the Democratic
stronghold of Plains Township. It's about time we elect a Republican in my little burgh. Michelle Hryvnak Davies has been the driving force in reviving NEPA Blogs that DB Echo started a few years ago and I have slacked off on updating. Her tech savy and enthusiasm has helped the site become something of a media sensation with radio appearances and a regular gig on WBRE.

Judge candidate Molly Mirabito talks with 11th CD candidate Bill Vinsko with County Council candidate Rick Morelli in the background. Morelli has a big job ahead of him, he helped write the charter and if elected has to make it work.

Mike Vough is a double nominee for the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas but that doesn't mean he isn't out there asking for every vote. Next to him is one of my favorite people in politics, Patrick Murphy. As a Congressman he wrote the legislation to amend the UCMJ to end the DADT policy and is now running for PA Attorney General. The weather was terrible as he was coming up the interstate and could have easily bailed on the event but he kept his promise to me. Thank you Pat. On the end is Bill Vinsko who is the only announced candidate so far for the Democratic nomination in the 11th CD taking on Lou Barletta.
We don't even know what the district will look like yet but he decided to get out there early instead of playing it safe.



I don't have the time to link and label everything in the last 2 posts that I think violates some sort of blogger rule that someone invented without asking any bloggers for input.

My apologises.

Blogfest-2011 fall edition postgame

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Will the rain ever let up? There was more flash flooding yesterday that made it difficult to get to Pittston for our semi-annual get together. I understand that many people just couldn't make it because of the weather. We dealt with basement flooding then a bunch of detours to get to Rooney's but 100+ hearty souls made it.

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My fellow host bloggers made it along with some other local scribes . DB Echo and Michelle had a nice display set up, you have to catch their act on TV. The Yonk had a TV gig that made him a little late accompanied by Mrs. LuLac. Joe Valenti took a break from cleaning up the devastation at his home and snapped pictures all night. Tom Borthwick attracted a few Lackawanna political types and Justin Vacula talking with Bible Buck was priceless. Some non political bloggers including Karla Porter made it..
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Many candidates in the upcoming election and their supporters made the rounds.

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Most of the hopefuls for Luzerne County Judge of Common Pleas made an appearance. Dick Hughes was the first one I spotted followed shortly by Lesa Gelb. Mike Vough and Joe Sklarosky hung out most the night along with Molly Mirabito. I'm having a hard time deciding to vote for in this race and was surprised that some of them agreed with me that Judge's shouldn't even be elected. Do you think that Michael Conahan could have passed a background check?

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I had the pleasure of talking with 2 of the 3 candidates for Mayor Wilkes-Barre. Libertarian Betsy Summers has become a pal over the years and I promised her I would never publish a picture of her eating a corn dog or ice cream cone. I save that sort of snark for Presidential candidates. Lisa Cope is the Republican nominee who wants the best for her city.

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As expected we had a bunch of candidates for Luzerne County Council.

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Blast from the past Ed Brominski likes his chances ( I really wish Wil Toole had won a nomination)and Joyce Dombroski-Gebhart brought along her dad who is a published author and a sharp man. Gina Nevenglosky has run for county office before is in the hunt this time. Blythe Evans has been running an aggressive campaign. Eileen Sorokas had a tee shirt that was electric. Rick Morelli helped write the new charter and wants to see it implemented properly. Harry Haas wants a seat on the council and would bring some common sense to the body. Michelle Bednar is another one. A young man was handing out cards for Tim Mullen but I didn't catch his name. Charlie Hatchko has a dream of being elected to something and Independent Rick Williams has a real chance of winning.

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Our 1th CD Congressional candidates were well represented by Lou Barletta's press guy Shawn Kelly and Barletta's only announced challenger Bill Vinsko. I chewed Vinsko's ear for a bit. .

Statewide the only election I'm following is PA Attorney General in 2012.

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Liz Randol plugged Kathleen Kane's bid for PA Attorney General, good luck with that.

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The highlight of the evening for me was Congressman and PA Attorney General candidate Patrick Murphy who braved the monsoon on the interstate made it to our event. What a great guy.

..
So many people told me tonight that this their favororit event. No speeches, panels or an obligation to eat a rubber chicken/ spagetti dinner. We will keep doing it.

Some pictures at this link

You Tube weekend

The don't ask, don't tell policy for the US military ended last week and reaction from some Republicans has been predictable.


Everyone, Even Conservatives, Criticizing Santorum’s DADT Debate Answer

Maybe Rick thinks the Army will start to look something like this

Blogfest tonight

The next blogger meetup will be Friday September 23rd at Rooney's Irish Pub 67 S. Main St. Pittston, PA 18704 starting at 6PM.

Our political bloggers from Luzerne and Lackawanna counties will be there along with our readers, commenter's and people who are just interested in local politics. We should also have many candidates and their supporters.

You don't have to blog about about politics to attend as we welcome everyone who blogs. There is no charge for admission.

We are looking at good turnout.

PA Attorney General 2012- the Democrats

We have 3 announced candidates so far with former Philadelphia DA Lynn Abraham mulling a bid.

No Democrat has won this office since since attorney general became an elected post in 1980. Being elected attorney general does not necessarily position someone to run for higher office but it did become a launching pad for two gubernatorial candidates: Mike Fisher, who lost to Ed Rendell in 2002, and Governor Tom Corbett who used his office for political prosecutions that concentrated more on the misdeeds of Democrats than Republicans as Casablanca

PA has documented.

Philly lawyer Dan McCaffery (no website I can find) lost the DA's race in the city of brotherly love in 2009. He is getting some early love from Congressman and Philadelphia Dem chair Bob Brady but Lynn may be calling Bob to survey the field. He is the brother of PA Supreme Court Justice Seamus McCaffery who became famous for presiding over Eagle's Court.

From our backyard Scranton native Kathleen Kane is in the hunt touting her experience as a Lackawanna County assistant district attorney.

From her website:


Born and raised in Scranton PA, Kathleen’s working class upbringing contributes heavily to her work ethic. A graduate of the Scranton public school system, Kathleen continued her education at The University of Scranton and Temple University School of Law in Philadelphia. Her legal career began with civil litigation with the firm of Post & Schell, P.C. in Philadelphia before returning home to accept a position as an Assistant District Attorney in the Lackawanna County District Attorney’s Office.

The frontrunner at this point has to be former Congressman Patrick Murphy.

He went to King's College here in Wilkes-Barre and his brother JJ worked for the city. Murphy was a Captain in the 82nd Airborne and a JAG in Iraq. After he was elected to Congress he led the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the discriminatory policy that prevented gay men and women from serving openly in the military. I was in the military in the 1970's and we knew who was gay but didn't give a shit. All that mattered was if you could do your job.

From Muphy's website:


The Attorney General should be the people's protector. As Attorney General, Patrick will stop at nothing to keep our families safe and hold criminals accountable.

Patrick Murphy was inspired by his father, a 22 year veteran of the Philadelphia police department, to dedicate his life to enforcing the law and protecting Pennsylvanians. On September 12, 2001, Patrick volunteered for combat to help bring to justice the terrorists responsible for killing innocent Americans. As a federal and military prosecutor, he put dangerous criminals behind bars, including terrorists bent on killing American soldiers.

Patrick knows no one is above the law – especially not corporations or their friends in Harrisburg.


Pennsylvania attorney general's race is off to a crowded start

Murphy, who lost his congressional seat to Republican Mike Fitzpatrick in the fall, has positioned himself as the Democrat to beat, raising $500,000 in six weeks and racking up endorsements from unions, local party leaders, and Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams.

"I'm running hard," said Murphy, 37, an Iraq war veteran. "I will not be outworked."

Murphy has been taking something of a victory lap on the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't tell.

From his Facebook page:

Wow. What an incredible day. My favorite moments by far were the calls I made to the heroes kicked out of the military they loved because of DADT. It is amazing how many of them want to sign back up. Absolutely inspirational.

He has a lot of support in Luzerne County and will be at Blogfest tomorrow.

There is a Republican Presidential debate tonight

And it's on Fox News. There are so many I can't keep track.

My favorite GOP candidate for President reminded me of it a few hours ago.

He is getting vary familiar with me calling me "mate, " we are not in Briton. It's kind of a gay thing to do in America.

Running Mate,

I just arrived in Florida for tonight's debate, and I hope you are planning on tuning into Fox News Channel at 8PM ET to watch the debate.

In today's Wall Street Journal, Karl Rove wrote that I have been one of "the most consistently impressive debater[s]," and that I have "had strong, even Reaganesque, moments on foreign policy."

I intend again to focus tonight's debate on what I've done in the foreign policy arena, how I reformed welfare and how I will work to turn the economy around. I also won't be afraid to take on my Republican opponents when they support misguided policies or runaway from our shared conservative values.

I hope you'll tune in and see what others are concluding all across the country – that I am the only passionate conservative in this race.

Thanks, and I'll email you after the debate to let you know how things went.

Rick

Sent from my wireless device


I await his email.

Kudos to Comcast

I bet that's a headline my long time readers would never expect to see.


Earlier today a Comcast technician showed up on my doorstep saying that the company's remote diagniostics detected a week signal on my internet connection. He came in and did some measurements and decided we needed some new cables to replace the same wires we have had since 1996. He also replaced the splitters with dead ends that I had jury rigged over the years.

I really can't complain about the signal service as we have rarely lost our connection to cable or the internet. The pricing, boxes and other hassles is another story.

The last time I did a post about this media bohemeth one of their press flacks contacted me the next day. Let's see if that will happen again. Are you out there Melissa or have you moved on?

PA Electoral College votes

My last post on this subject had some well thought out and researched comments. Thank You.

My position is that the Electoral College is an anachronism and should be scrapped. It will take a Constitutional Amendment to get rid of it which is not easy to do. Whoever gets the most votes should be President.


Anonymous said...
On the Electoral College, see Federalist No. 68 and Anti-Federalist No. 70 and 72.

It is a little simplistic to say that they merely didn’t trust individuals to make the right decision. Hamilton instead wanted the population to elect electors that “will most likely to possess the information and discernment requisite to such complicated investigations.” The Federalists that supported the Electoral College also supported it on the grounds that it more strongly supported a central form of government (federalism.) Lastly, there was also concern that, absent weighting the vote, smaller states would have less of a voice in the process. Basically, they also wanted to enhance the status of minority interests guaranteeing them at least equal weight to other sparsely populated states. For instance, even the smallest state would have 3 votes (one for their House member and two for each Senator.)

The Anti-Federalists argued more along the lines of your perspective, “that the sacred rights of mankind should dwindle down to Electors of electors, and those again electors of other electors.” The Anti-Federalists were against a strong central form of government and wanted to remain a decentralized union with stronger state’s rights. Direct election by the people (popular vote) was the logical extension of that.

If your argument is that the popular vote should prevail as the Anti-Federalists argued, it is inconsistent to oppose the Republican Plan. I say that because the Republican plan is closer to the Anti-Federalist model in that it brings the election of the president closer to the people than the present system. 2:38 PM


toto said...
Republican legislators seem quite “confused” about the merits of the congressional district method The leadership committee of the Nebraska Republican Party just adopted a resolution requiring all GOP elected officials to favor overturning their congressional district method for awarding electoral votes or lose the party’s support. While in Pennsylvania, Republican legislators are just as strongly arguing that they must change from the winner-take-all method to the congressional district method.

Dividing Pennsylvania’s electoral votes by congressional district would magnify the worst features of the Electoral College system and not reflect the diversity of Pennsylvania.

The district approach would provide less incentive for presidential candidates to campaign in all Pennsylvania districts and would not focus the candidates’ attention to issues of concern to the state as a whole. Candidates would have no reason to campaign in districts where they are comfortably ahead or hopelessly behind.

Due to gerrymandering, in 2008, only 4 Pennsylvania congressional districts were competitive.

In Maine, where they award electoral votes by congressional district, the closely divided 2nd congressional district received campaign events in 2008 (whereas Maine’s 1st reliably Democratic district was ignored)

In Nebraska, which also uses the district method, the 2008 presidential campaigns did not pay the slightest attention to the people of Nebraska’s reliably Republican 1st and 3rd congressional districts because it was a foregone conclusion that McCain would win the most popular votes in both of those districts. The issues relevant to voters of the 2nd district (the Omaha area) mattered, while the (very different) issues relevant to the remaining (mostly rural) 2/3rds of the state were irrelevant.

When votes matter, presidential candidates vigorously solicit those voters. When votes don’t matter, they ignore those areas.

Nationwide, there are only 55 “battleground” districts that are competitive in presidential elections. 88% of the nation’s congressional districts would be ignored if a district-level winner-take-all system were used nationally.

If the district approach were used nationally, it would be less fair and less accurately reflect the will of the people than the current system. In 2004, Bush won 50.7% of the popular vote, but 59% of the districts. Although Bush lost the national popular vote in 2000, he won 55% of the country’s congressional districts.

Awarding electoral votes by congressional district could result in third party candidates winning electoral votes that would deny either major party candidate the necessary majority vote of electors and throw the process into Congress to decide.

Because there are generally more close votes on district levels than states as whole, district elections increase the opportunity for error. The larger the voting base, the less opportunity there is for an especially close vote.

Also, a second-place candidate could still win the White House without winning the national popular vote.

A national popular vote is the way to make every person’s vote equal and guarantee that the candidate who gets the most votes in all 50 states becomes President. "

...

A survey of 800 Pennsylvania­ voters conducted on December 16-17, 2008 showed 78% overall support for a national popular vote for President.
Support was 87% among Democrats, 68% among Republican­s, and 76% among independen­ts.
By age, support was 77% among 18-29 year olds, 73% among 30-45 year olds, 81% among 46-65 year olds, and 78% for those older than 65.By gender, support was 85% among women and 71% among men.

The National Popular Vote bill would guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states (and DC).

Under National Popular Vote, every vote, everywhere, would be politically relevant and equal in every presidential election. Every vote would be included in the national count. The candidate with the most popular votes in all 50 states would get the 270+ electoral votes from the enacting states. That majority of electoral votes guarantees the candidate with the most popular votes in all 50 states wins the presidency.

National Popular Vote would give a voice to the minority party voters in each state and district (in ME and NE). Now their votes are counted only for the candidate they did not vote for. Now they don’t matter to their candidate.

With National Popular Vote, elections wouldn’t be about winning states or districts (in ME and NE). No more distorting and divisive red and blue state and district maps. Every vote, everywhere would be counted for and directly assist the candidate for whom it was cast.

In Gallup polls since 1944, only about 20% of the public has supported the current system of awarding all of a state’s electoral votes to the presidential candidate who receives the most votes in each separate state (with about 70% opposed and about 10% undecided). The recent Washington Post, Kaiser Family Foundation, and Harvard University poll shows 72% support for direct nationwide election of the President. Support is strong in virtually every state, partisan, and demographic group surveyed iin recent polls in closely divided battleground states: CO– 68%, IA –75%, MI– 73%, MO– 70%, NH– 69%, NV– 72%, NM– 76%, NC– 74%, OH– 70%, PA — 78%, VA — 74%, and WI — 71%; in smaller states (3 to 5 electoral votes): AK – 70%, DC – 76%, DE –75%, ME — 77%, NE — 74%, NH –69%, NV — 72%, NM — 76%, RI — 74%, and VT — 75%; in Southern and border states: AR –80%, KY — 80%, MS –77%, MO — 70%, NC — 74%, and VA — 74%; and in other states polled: CA — 70%, CT — 74% , MA — 73%, MN – 75%, NY — 79%, WA — 77%, and WV- 81%.

Come the end of voting on Election Day, most voters don’t care whether their presidential candidate wins or loses in their state . . . they care whether he/she wins the White House. Voters want to know, that even if they were on the losing side, their vote actually was directly and equally counted and mattered to their candidate. Most Americans consider the idea of the candidate with the most popular votes being declared a loser detestable. We don’t allow this in any other election in our representative republic.

The bill has passed 31 state legislativ­e chambers, in 21 small, medium-sma­ll, medium, and large states, including one house in AR, CT, DE, DC, ME, MI, NV, NM, NY, NC, and OR, and both houses in CA, CO, HI, IL, NJ, MD, MA, RI, VT, and WA. The bill has been enacted by DC (3), HI (4), IL (19), NJ (14), MD (11), MA (10), CA (55), VT (3), and WA (13). These 9 jurisdicti­ons possess 132 electoral votes — 49% of the 270 necessary to bring the law into effect.

NationalPo­pularVote.com

PA Attorney General 2012

State Senator John Raferty looks like the choice of the PA Republican party to be the next Attorney General. He has the support of the best fundraiser in Pennsylvania who happens to be a convicted criminal, Bob Asher.

Asher Endorses Rafferty for AG

Just a reminder


1987 Conviction

While chairman of the Republican State Committee of Pennsylvania Asher was convicted of perjury, racketeering, conspiracy and bribery in connection with a state contract award. He resigned after the conviction and served one year in federal prison.[7] The case gained national attention in 1987 when his co-defendant in that case and political ally, Pennsylvania State Treasurer Budd Dwyer, committed suicide on national television just before sentencing.

With friends like that.......

Lou Barletta just may become the Congressman we need

I got this press release today:

WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta, PA-11, said he voted against a continuing resolution Wednesday because the measure didn’t provide enough disaster relief funding.

Rep. Barletta released the following statement after his vote:

I support the Senate version of this bill because this continuing resolution doesn’t include enough funding for disaster victims. I, along with 76 Democrats, sent a letter to the House leadership saying that we support the Senate version of the bill because it includes more funding for disaster relief. I agree with Senator Casey and Senator Toomey, who supported the Senate bill.

Every day I toured the destruction caused by record flooding in Northeastern Pennsylvania, I told my constituents at home that I would come back to Congress and fight for them. I promised them that I would make sure the full resources of the federal government are used to help them rebuild and protect them from future floods. This continuing resolution does not do enough to rebuild the lives of people who lost everything they own. It doesn’t do enough to fund mitigation efforts so this type of flooding doesn’t happen again. It doesn’t do enough to help local businesses reopen and protect American jobs.

Rather than spend money on disaster relief funding, the continuing resolution continues funding for the United Nations Populations Fund (UNFPA), and it continues $300 million in annual funding to the Title X family planning program, a prime funding source for Planned Parenthood.

Because the continuing resolution does not include adequate funding for disaster relief, I voted against it.

When disaster strikes anywhere in the world, the United States is the first country to help rebuild. But now that a disaster occurred right here in our own backyard, we need to start rebuilding here, first. Let’s help Americans first.

My friend McGruff points out that he joined with Democrats to reject budget games to get people who were flooded the help they need now. Even Senator Pat Toomey decided he had enough and joined with other GOP Senators from states that have major damage from Hurricaine Irene and Tropical Storm Lee to provide disaster relief.

It's disgusting that the Congress is even delaying disaster relief so they can play political games. Many people in the House and Senate didn't worry about offsets to fund the wars in the middle east. As Dick Cheney once said "Deficits Don't Matter" unless a Democrat is in the White House.

PA Electoral College votes

I am not usually in favor of amending the Constitution unlike some of my "conservative" friends who swear fealty to the document but want repeal the amendments they don't like and propose all sorts of changes.

After the 2000 election when Al Gore got 500,00 votes more than Bush I was disappointed that there wasn't a bigger push to scrap the Electoral College. The founders made it hard to change the process of electing a President as they didn't trust the people to elect the leader of our country and put it in the hands of state legislatures. The person with the most votes would be President and the the second place finisher would be Vice President. The election of 1800 revealed a flaw in the system when the ticket of Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr both got the same amount of votes and the House of Representatives had to decide the thing after 20 something ballots. The 12th amendment was passed shortly after that. The constitution was a living document even then.

Now Republicans in the Pennsylvania Senate have to decided to try to game the system proposing to award Electoral Votes by congressional distinct instead of the winner take all standard that is used by 48 other states. Nebraska has the CD requirement and is looking at changing it because the President won one of five of the Electoral votes in 2008.

I actually like the idea of awarding the electoral college vote by congressional districts but every state has to sign up for it to work. It doesn't require a constitutional amendment If Texas. Mississippi, California, Utah, New York, etc agree to it I'm all for it but that is not going to happen.


Be careful what you ask for as it just might backfire.

Some people in the Pennsylvania Republican party are freaked out by this idea.

House GOP fret over new Pa. electoral plan

Capitol Ideas is all over it.

In this case I'm all for amending the constitution scrapping the Electoral College. The winner of the popular vote should be the President.

Blogfest-2011 fall edition this Friday

The next blogger meetup will be Friday September 23rd at Rooney's Irish Pub 67 S. Main St. Pittston, PA 18704 starting at 6PM.

Our political bloggers from Luzerne and Lackawanna counties will be there along with our readers, commenter's and people who are just interested in local politics. We should also have many candidates and their supporters.

You don't have to blog about about politics to attend as we welcome everyone who blogs.
There is no charge for admission.

The turnout should be as good as the last 3 times. We realize that some of our regulars may not make it because they are still dealing with flood damage that is consuming both their time and money. We did consider rescheduling the event because of it but there is always something else going on. In the spring it was the 3rd District Ziti Dinner. Whatever date we pick there are conflicts and objections. We were gong to do next Friday but that is Rosh Hashanah. In October just about every day has a candidate event.

You can RSVP at our Facebook event page or drop me an email at gort42@yahoo.com with any questions.

Our good friend Joe Valenti of PittstonPolitics.com got clobbered by the flood but will take a break from cleaning up to attend.

Head for the hills

I am amazed by some of the comments on this site, other blogs and the newspapers. In short the argument is that you elected to live in the way of danger so don't expect me to pay for your damage when you get wiped out.

By that logic the Wyomimg Valley should be abandoned because of the flood threat, everyone in California should move inland because an earthquake may happen, get away from the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico coastlines as a hurricane or 2 will hit your town. You should move to a safe place in the interior like Joplin, Mo. or Tuscaloosa, Alabama. No wait, they had tornadoes. . How about Portland, OR or Seattle where you drown after falling off your bicycle. The list is endless

There is no place in America that doesn't have a history and threat of a devastating weather event.

I have an idea. There is a national flood insurance program so how about expanding it to national natural disaster insurance. I know my conservative friends would object to a mandate so make it voluntary at first. The insurance pool would be enormous as just about every homeowner and business in the United States would be eligible. It could be administrated by insurance companies to satisfy my Republican friends and the politicians that have been paid off by them.

Meet Bill Vinsko- Candidate for Congress PA 11

The only Democrat that has had the balls to announce he is running for Congress before the new boundaries are set is Bill Vinsko.

I think that is a smart move. Lou Barletta is a Republican freshman in a traditionally Democratic district and no matter how they draw the lines in Harrisburg this should be a very competitive seat. By getting out there early Vinsko is clearing the field.






I don't know the guy but I hope to quiz him on the issues at his gathering at
at the Wyoming Valley Country Club
on Wednesday, September 21, 2011 from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM


A word of advice to the Vinsko camp. Put some content on the website.

Rick Santorum wins Pennsylvania Republican straw poll for President

Capitol Ideas is reporting from the Pennsylvania Republican State Committee meeting where all the buzz is about the plan to blow up the way the state will allocate it's Electoral College votes in the Presidential election and the brewing civil war that has pitted the legislature against the state party leadership worried about down ballot races and the Republican US House members who are worried about getting reelected. I would usually expect cooler heads to prevail who would keep the winner take all system but in this crazy atmosphere anything can happen.

pawatercooler.com has the results of the straw poll that for some reason doesn't attract as much attention as the one in Iowa.

In the interest of fair and balanced coverage that Fox News has pioneered I decided to put up the unofficial Gort42 campaign photos of some of the candidates. Please send pics of the candidates if you have better ones.

Former PA Senator and long time Virginia resident Rick Santorum topped the poll with 138 votes out of 388 tallied. The horse race coverage people like percentages so that is 35.5%


Mitt Romney came in 2nd with 98 or 25.5%. The dog that he strapped to the top of his car for a 12 hour ride didn't have a vote.

Flavor of the month Texas Governor Rick Perry got 71 votes of the faithful (18.3%). If he signs a few more death warrants he may increase that percentage.




Ron Paul continues to be the Rodney Dangerfield of this race, no respect at all. 21 votes



Jon Huntsman may be the most qualified guy in the race after being Governor of Utah and Ambassador to China. He even speaks a foreign language that probably disqualifies him with the English Only Crowd. In today's Republican Party that is a handicap. Look for him 2016. Tom Ridge endorsed him. 18 votes.

Herman Cain. 16 votes.

Newt Gingrich is someone I sometimes liked when he was talking ideas instead of his scorched earth policy of partisan warfare. 14 votes.

Last in the poll was Michelle Bachman.

ALex said: Only 12 for Michelle Bachmann? Maybe that anti-vaccination insanity had a stronger effect that I thought.

Whoever wins the Republican nomination has to run against this guy. 0 votes.