Pennsylvania Congressional Redistricting

A Capitolwire (subscription required) story yesterday about the latest plan for the gerrymandering of Congressional Districts got the chattering classes and candidates , well, chattering. The first 2 maps floated here and here will not look like the final version according to this story.

The Republicans want to chop up Luzerne County
"Since the weekend the biggest change has been adding Wilkes-Barre and Pittston to the district of U.S. Rep. Tim Holden, D-Schuylkill, along with Scranton and other Democratic areas. Republican advisors to Rep. Lou Barletta, D-Hazleton, did not want those two areas to stay in Barletta’s district, fearing they could help lead to his future defeat." And they want to add Wyoming County to the 11th CD so Barletta can be another voice in Congress for the gas drillers and help his fundraising.

Lou Barletta's press guy Shawn Kelly gives a politically correct answer to this speculation.

No Barletta in proposed area district
W-B, Scranton in zone with Easton

“Why wouldn’t Rep. Barletta want Luzerne County whole?” Kelly asked. “He won it twice, handily – by 4.8 points in 2008 and by 13.4 points in 2010. It’s his home county. It’s where he’s best known. Rep. Barletta wants to keep Luzerne County whole. Period.”

Bill Vinsko blasts the Republican creative map making

ONCE AGAIN, CONGRESSMAN BARLETTA AND THE STATE LEGISLATURE ARE TURNING THEIR BACKS ON THE PEOPLE OF NORTHEAST AND CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA.


As has been widely reported over the last few weeks, the Congressional District Boundaries in Pennsylvania are being released this week. First, Lou Barletta got rid of the only county he could not win – Lackawanna County. Then he cut out the only county he won once – Monroe County.

Wilkes-Barre, Pittston, Duryea and Dupont, and several other Luzerne County municipalities, have always been a part of the 11th Congressional District. Interestingly, Congressman Barletta, in an effort to avoid having a strong challenge from Bill Vinsko on November 6, 2012, is supporting a move tonight to surgically remove Wilkes-Barre, Pittston and several other Luzerne County municipalities from the 11th Congressional District. It seems now that he does not even trust the people who actually elected him.

We are calling on Congressman Barletta, the Governor and our state legislators to work to keep Luzerne County intact and put the people ahead of politics now! It is no wonder why people are fed up with Congress. Now, our own Congressional leaders are attempting to steal the election and take away the rights of the people.


The following is a statement from Democratic Candidate Bill Vinsko:

“If Congressman Barletta is afraid to face voters who live in the heart of his own District, then he should work harder to convince them by doing his job. Under this plan it’s downright wrong that Luzerne County will be broken into parts and the voice of our people will be muted in Washington for brazen political reasons. I call on Congressman Barletta to publicly ask the state legislature and Governor to keep all of Luzerne County in the 11th and to keep the voice of Northeast Pennsylvania strong and united in Washington,” said Bill Vinsko.

Capitol Ideas says that the whole thing will be pushed off for a week.

Former 10th CD Congressman Chris Carney is lurking around.

Christopher Carney Gauging Support for 2012 Bid

On Friday, Carney met with a dozen Keystone State political fundraisers, former donors and organized labor representatives to discuss a 2012 campaign, according to a source who attended the roundtable discussion at a downtown Philadelphia political consulting shop.

Yonk on the mend

Last week my good friend David Yonki told his readers of the Lu Lac Political Letter that he will be out of action for a bit getting some medical attention. I talked to him yesterday and I'm happy to report that he is doing well and will be back in action shortly. He has been well taken care of by a tall redheaded nurse with an uncanny resemblance to Gina Davis.

I believe her name is Rozetta

Do the Republicans want to win the White House in 2012?

I've been an observer of Presidential politics since shortly after I learned how to read but I've never seen anything like this pre-primary season. Serious candidates like Mitch Daniels and John Thune took a pass then Tim Pawlwnty dropped out after the Iowa straw poll after losing to Michelle Bachman.

Donald Trump was leading the polls in the spring peddling birther nonsense then his bubble burst when Bin Laden was killed and he decided to go back to his TV show. Texas Governor Rick Perry was cheered for executing people and raised a bunch of money but couldn't speak in complete sentences and had a memory lapse. Then it was pizza guy Herman Cain who was sunk by an allegation of a 13 year extramarital affair after being accused of sexual harassment. Cain dropped out Saturday and the Borowitz Report translates his statement:


But before I go, let me share with you my final thoughts on my campaign. After months of crisscrossing this great land of ours and participating in over three hundred televised debates, I am being disqualified because of an extramarital affair. And that raises the following question: are you fucking kidding me?

I mean, let’s get real. I never heard of Libya. I didn’t know whether that CNN dude’s name was Wolf or Blitz. And my only training for running the #1 nation in the world was running its #8 pizza chain. Yet none of that, I repeat, none of that disqualified me. In fact, I was the front-fucking-runner, as long as I kept my 9-9-9 in my pants. (I have no idea what I meant by that — I just like saying 9-9-9.)

But here’s the part that really kills me. You’re kicking me to the curb because I was messing around, and instead you’re going with… Newt Gingrich? I repeat: are you fucking kidding me? Oh, I know what you’re saying: you love Newt because he’s an “intellectual.” Well, Newt Gingrich is the intellectual of the Republican field the way Moe was the intellectual of the Stooges.

Now the front runner is Newt Gingrich who is an ideas man. Most of them are bad like having grade school kids work as janitors. Now he talks about bipartisanship after poisoning the atmosphere in the 1990's.

Every Word Matters: Using 'Keywords' as a Political Tactic

Gingrich's negative words for Democrats

"Anti-flag, anti-family, anti-child, anti-jobs, betray, coercion, collapse, consequences, corruption, crises, decay, deeper, destroy, destructive, devour, endanger, failure, greed, hypocrisy, ideological, impose, incompetent, insecure, liberal, lie, limit(s), pathetic, permissive attitude, radical, self-serving, sensationalists, shallow, sick, they/them, threaten, traitors, unionized bureaucracy, urgent, waste"

Now Trump is back in the news saying he will be the moderator of a Newsmax debate about a week before the Iowa caucus that has some Republicans balking . Newt doesn't have a ground game and even if he wins an early contest or 2 it's hard to see him lasting in a contest with Mitt Romney. Andrew Sullivan said that Romney makes plastic look real.

Back to my original point. I really don't think that the Republican media machine want's to see President Obama defeated. It would be bad for ratings for FOX News and Rush Limbaugh if they didn't have a Democratic President to beat up. Not to mention what it would do to their book sales.

11th CD news: Barletta and Vinsko

Congressman Lou Barletta has been in the news lately. He got House Speaker John Boehner to view flood damage in Bloomsburg and blasted President Obama's visit to Scranton saying "The people of Scranton would rather have a job than a visit, especially a visit at taxpayers’ expense.” He thinks that the President should stay in Washington trying to make a deal with the Republicans who reflexifely oppose anything he proposes even if it was their idea in the first place like the indvidual mandate .

I think the President is right using the bully pulpit and Barletta just may be listening. While saying he doesn't want to raise taxes on anybody Barletta won't rule it out. TT:
Mr. Barletta told The Times-Tribune by telephone he still favors a payroll tax extension and is open to considering an expansion and even the proposed surcharge.
"I think we should keep all ideas on the table if we can pay for it," he said. "I wouldn't rule anything out at this point. I'm open to leaving everything on the table and let's get the best idea."
But his preference is to not raise any taxes, he said. I guess that is progress in his thinking.

This week he sent out some press releases supporting a bill to make road signs easier to read.

Rep. Barletta is the lead Republican sponsor on bipartisan road safety bill

And getting into the holiday spirit

Rep. Barletta's district offices to be collection sites for Toys for Tots program. That's cool.

New, unwrapped toys will be collected at Rep. Barletta’s Wilkes-Barre and Taylor offices between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.
The addresses of those offices are:
Taylor, Lackawanna County: 802 South Main Street, Taylor, PA 18517. Phone: (570) 562-6240. The office is in the same center in which state Rep. Sid Michaels Kavulich has his office.
Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County: 1112 State Route 315, Plaza 315, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18702. Phone: (570) 235-1420.

Democratic challenger Bill Vinsko has been defending the civil rights of a Bloomsburg University
student and posted a new soppy video:

Sarah Palin said some nice things about Rick Santorum

Sarah Palin said some nice things about Rick Santorum (R-VA) on Fox News that he touting in a fundraising email.

Gort
“If voters start shifting gears and deciding they want ideological consistency, then they’re going to start paying attention to say, Rick Santorum.”
Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin said that last night on Fox News about me, and I wanted to make sure you heard about it as well.
I am grateful for those kind words from a strong conservative like Governor Palin. And it’s becoming more clear that other conservatives are starting to rally around our message of passionate conservatism.

I love it when a politician sends a personalized email when hitting me up for money but I'm unclear what the difference is between a passionate conservative and a compassionate conservative like Bush advertised. I think it might be something akin to being a benevolent axe murderer as Mike McGlynn once said in the CV.




Michelle Bachman said she would consider him for VP.




CNN: Bachmann threw out a few names Wednesday when asked who her potential vice-president would be, including fellow candidate Rick Santorum...The congresswoman from Minnesota also floated Santorum as a potential attorney general, saying his legal acumen was top notch.
"I think that Rick Santorum is a wonderful man personally, but also, I think that he's very gifted when it comes to the area of legal issues."




Rick is charming all the girls saying "I’m the one you want to take home to Mom.”




Rick Santorum a Hit With the Ladies

Technical difficulties

Yesterday I received a message from my friend Wil Toole

Not sure if it is me, my puter or your site ....... there is brown background which prevents me from reading your postings.

The blog looked normal on my computer so I told him to check back later. I didn't make any changes to the template and haven't had to mess with the html code since the last blogger update so I thought it was a problem with his computer. I checked the blog on 2 other computers and it appeared fine. Then I got a few other messages saying the thing and I finally figured it out. It's a browser problem.

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Gort42 looks fine on Internet Explorer 7 but is all messed up on Firefox. The last few months I've had the opposite problem with a few sites. Whenever I load NEPartisan and Oliver Willis with IE7 I get a pop up box that says the site is running a script and freezes my computer requiring me to do a restart but they both work fine when I open them with Firefox.

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I'm not sure what the problem is but I will try deleting some recent links and pictures to see if it will solve the problem. So bear with me folks while I try to solve this problem instead of posting about a few of these stories.

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Feds set to probe Sterling project

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Payroll tax break: Extension proposals from both parties fail in Senate

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No challengers yet for Luzerne County state legislators

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Lou Barletta compra programa de la piedra de Rosetta para aprender español

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Update: The culprit was Michelle's picture of President Obama I snagged from her flickr account.
I deleted it and everything is back to normal.

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Corey O'Brien gets some national press

The New YorkTimes story a day before President Obama's visit to Scranton created something of of a buzz. It says that this is Hillary Clinton country full of Reagan Democrats who may vote for a Republican this time around. Despite what the Professor thinks Barack Obama will win Luzerne and Lackawanna counties in 2012 but our area but it will be a battleground as it always is. Expect the President and VP Biden to visit us in the run up to the election and the Republican nominee will also make a few stops.

At first I focused on this quote “For many people here, Obama is too liberal,” said Ed Mitchell, a Democratic strategist based in nearby Wilkes-Barre. Sorry Ed, Obama is not liberal enough, if he was he would hire retiring Congressman Barney Frank as Press Secretary or maybe Bernie Sanders or at least listen to their advice.

Lackawanna County Commissioner Corey O'Brien's remarks got the most attention “Enough with the soft approach,” said Corey O’Brien, a Democratic Lackawanna County commissioner and early backer of Mr. Obama. “He’s got to say, ‘I’m in charge, and I’m going to get it done with or without Congress.’ ”

A few people chastised Corey for not knowing how the the Federal government works.

Where Campaigns Work Well

No, Barack Obama is not Harry Potter

FOR SOME REASON, a lot of people think after that his inauguration, President Obama was handed a top secret magic wand.

Kevin Drum: Republicans have to be chortling at this. It's exactly the response they've been hoping for as we head into election season...

Political Animal: Just to be clear, my point is not to pick on Corey O’Brien, an Obama supporter. He’s very likely frustrated and concerned, and knows plenty of people in his community who are equally frustrated and concerned. I don’t blame them in the slightest — given the larger economic circumstances, their anxiety is well justified....The public likes to think of the President of the United States, no matter who’s in office, as having vast powers....Americans hate Congress, overwhelmingly dislike Republicans, and the notion that the GOP is sabotaging the economy just to undermine Obama is widely believed. And yet, the president may suffer politically because many voters expect Obama to succeed — despite unprecedented Republican obstructionism — by “getting it done with or without Congress.”

The Plume Line

Why GOP benefits from blocking Obama’s jobs policies




I thought it would be worth checking back with O'Brien to get a sense of how widespread this sentiment is in that region, a bellwether area that Obama is set to visit today.

Turns out it is widespread, and that this dynamic may well be in full force. O’Brien said that many voters from the region are fully convinced that Republicans are deliberately trying to block Obama policies that might help alleviate joblessness — but that in their minds, the buck still stops with the president.

“People see that Republicans have been the party of blocking progress — that’s clear,” O’Brien told me. “The people of northeastern Pennsylvania, who will help decide who wins the state, all understand what’s going on.”

But he added: “They still look at the president and say, `the buck stops with the president.’ And that’s something the president has to overcome.”

O’Brien predicted that Republicans would not be rewarded for their obstructionism in the end. But he depicted an extremely volatile political environment, in which people are enraged by government’s failure to alleviate people’s economic suffering. He said Obama still needs to find some way of either securing some GOP support or making it even clearer that he grasps the depth of pubic rage over gridlock and that he’s the one fighting to make things better.

“The frustration is boiling over,” he said. “There’s an awareness here that the president can’t do this alone and that’s never been more true than it’s been now.” But he again characterized public sentiment by saying: “The buck stops with the president.”

And there you have it.


UPDATE: O’Brien got in touch with me after Obama’s speech today, and he sounded convinced that Obama was striking the tone he needs to strike. He said he thinks Obama “scored a lot of points” with eastern Pennsylvanians.

POTUS in Scranton

I wasn't able to make it but a couple of our local bloggers had front row seats. I spotted Michelle (thanks for the pic) and Karla on MSNBC before the event started and await their reports. Sorry, I don't do Twitter.

Only the Yonk and the Blogfather have post game reactions up so far. David says "We hear all about the job creators but my question remains the same, What have they have been creating in the last three years? Tell me. Point me to a private industry jobs program, point me to an industry that has adopted a patriotic mantra to get America working again? Answer me those questions and I’ll shut up about taxing the rich...Obama needs to stay tough" and Mark repeated his usual digs at unions and government workers saying "With no record of achievement to run on, expect a steady of dose of the obfuscation and the class warfare until he's trounced next November."

Before the President spoke 3 of our friends on the right greeted him. Politics in NEPA had a creative post knocking him for a campaign stop because of sagging poll numbers, green energy jobs and the housing market and also took a shot at Corey O'Brien. McGruff posted a press release from 10th CD Congressman Tom Marino alleging "his insistence on sticking to his worn-out ideologies and Chicago-style politics is clearly hurting the national economy." Chicago-style politics? I wish he was more like Mayor Daley and knock some heads together. Pure Bunkum called him Robin Hood and also mocked the fiction that this wasn't a campaign event. Since Betty has taken the side of Prince John and the Sheriff of Nottingham I'll quote the President:

Now, I know you hear a lot of folks on cable TV claiming that I’m this big tax-and-spend liberal. Next time you hear that, you just remind the people who are saying it that since I’ve taken office, I’ve cut your taxes. Your taxes today -- the average middle-class family, your taxes today are lower than when I took office, just remember that. We have cut taxes for small businesses not once, not twice, but 17 times. The average family’s tax burden is among the lowest it’s been in the last 60 years. So the problem is not that we’ve been raising taxes. We’ve actually been trying to give families a break during these tough times.

I agree with my friend DB Echo who is an unemployed/underemployed blogger

I still didn't really believe that people would really and truly intentionally cripple the economy in an effort to hurt their political opponents, and to hell with the consequences, to hell with all the people who would be hurt. Even after Democratic members of Congress came out and stated directly that Republicans were intentionally hurting the economy to hurt President Obama's chances of re-election.


Even after employers came out and said they refused to do any more hiring until that half-breed Kenyan-born Muslim socialist fascist was out of the White House.
Until John Boehner got up and said, yes, that's exactly what we're doing.That was months ago. It hasn't gotten any better since then. The political battle is ramping up. Job seekers are being held hostage. The economy is being held hostage. Republicans want to maximize economic suffering to drive home the point that Americans made a terrible, terrible mistake when they elected Barack Obama in 2008.



Instead I think the point they are making, and underlining in red, and circling and drawing arrows and lightning bolts next to, is what a terrible, terrible mistake it was to load up Congress with even more Republicans in 2010.



Unfortunately, a large proportion of the electorate is soft-minded and easily manipulated. Yes, they say, Barack Obama is a failure, just like Rush Limbaugh said he would be! And besides, those Democrats are evil, what with their love of abortions and gay marriage and the Fourteenth Amendment and all that other un-American crap. I gotta vote Republican!

Republican PA US Senate candidates

It has been a long time since Pennsylvania has reelected a Democratic Senator, I think Joe Clark was the last one. Bob Casey clobbered Rick Santorum in 2006 propelling Santorum into a run for President that will get barbers laughing again.

So far 9 Republicans have lined up to take on our Senior Senator with a few others looking at the race.

Nine and Counting? GOP Contenders Vie For Casey's Senate Seat

The candidates are:

Tim Burns (R) - BioTech Executive & '10 US Rep. Nominee
David Christian (R) - Business Consultant, Vietnam War Veteran & '84/'86 US Rep. Nominee
Laureen Cummings (R) - Tea Party Activist, Nurse & Businesswoman
John Kensinger (R) - Pharmacist & '10 Write-In CandidateKeith Loiselle (R) - Medical Technology Executive
Sam Rohrer (R) - Ex-State Rep., Businessman & '10 Gov. Candidate
Marc Scaringi (R) - Attorney & Ex-Congressional Aide
Tom Smith (R) - Retired Coal Mining Company Owner & Tea Party
John Vernon (R) - Retired Army Officer & Iraq War Veteran
Steve Welch (R) - Biotech Corporation CEO, Mechanical Engineer & Ex-Democrat

This field will be whittled down before the April 2012 Primary because some of them will not be able to get the 2000 signatures to get on the ballot and the Republicans usually line up behind whoever wins state party endorsement. I'm rooting for Lackawanna County underdog Laureen Cummings and I have been invited to an event for John Vernon. Sam Rohrer is the most familiar name having run for Governor in 2010 but got crowded out before the primary.

Steve Welch is an atractive candidate because he can self finance a campaign and has put up a web ad that is worthy of the Onion. My lefty friends rip it apart but I think that it is so stupid that it is funny. Get a sense of humor people.





REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE: BOB CASEY BORN IN KENYA, POSSIBLY GAY - A new web video from Pennsylvania Senate candidate Steve Welch is your latest demon sheep. The fake "Nightline"-style news segment highlights similarities between Bob Casey and President Obama's politics by postulating that the Pennsylvania senator and the commander-in-chief are actually twins and/or the same person (it's a little muddled in that respect). A slew of fake "experts" testify to Casey and Obama's alleged familial connection. It's a cute concept, and the production values are truly top notch. However, instead of leaving the viewer with the impression that Obama and Casey are related, the basic takeaway is that the two men are really gay for each other. The video features a torrent of photos of the men wearing the same clothing (including one withmatching argyle sweaters!). The announcer asks, "Is it possible Casey has some unconscious desire to become one person with Obama and somehow morph together?" He goes on to ask Dr. Melinda Farraday, "body language expert," whether she "see[s] two colleagues who just think and act the same, or is there something deeper?" Dr. Farraday is unequivocal: "The touching and the hugging, much more than you would ever see by just two colleagues." Take it to Vermont, you two!

President Obama in Scranton

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Sunday, November 27, 2011


NEW DETAILS: President Obama to Travel to Scranton, Pennsylvania to Discuss Payroll Tax Cut



WASHINGTON, DC – On Wednesday, November 30th, President Obama will travel to Scranton, Pennsylvania where he will continue to push Congress to act to extend and expand the payroll tax cut that has given tax breaks to millions of families across the country this year. The President’s event at Scranton High School will be open to pre-credentialed media and ticketed members of the public.

He will speak at 2:45PM

PUBLIC TICKET DISTRIBUTION INFORMATION

A limited number of tickets will be available to the general public. Tickets will be distributed TOMORROW, Monday, November 28, 2011, beginning at 4:00pm at the Main Entrance of Scranton High School.

Chris Carney for Congress

I have been sitting on this story because I wanted to confirm some details and talk to Chris Carney before throwing out speculation without doing my homework. But if you snooze you loose and the Dean of local political reporters Borys beat me to it.

Carney could be planning comeback

Like Borys I have been unsuccessful in my attempts to talk with Carney despite contacting everyone I know that is in touch with him. They assured me that they passed on my messages but the phone has yet to ring.

I have been able to confirm is that there is a Chris Carney for Congress campaign staff and an Act Blue Page with 25 donors so far. He has also sent out of couple of teaser emails.

There is a Draft Chris Carney Facebook group which I thought was wishful thinking as there is also a Draft Dick Cheney page backing a war criminal for President. The page administrator passed along a few emails from Carney that I questioned the veracity at first but they turned out to be legit. I put them on Google Docs so you view can view them. Resonable Ledership and a Veterans day message.

Tom Marino certainly deserves a challenge as he has voted in lockstep with the Republican leadership including supporting the Paul Ryan plan that would destroy Medicare and blow up the budget. Then he voted for a Balanced Budget Amendment that would make the Ryan plan impossible, even Ryan voted against it. He even favors other radical proposals.

CV: Marino said downsizing government is a way to cut wasteful government spending while keeping taxes low. Just like businesses, he said the federal government must do more with less and should revert back to the spending levels of 2002....He suggested getting rid of government agencies such as the Department of Energy, Department of Education, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Internal Revenue Service which, he said, is "causing grief for people trying to run a small business."

We will probably have to wait until redistricting is done to find out if Susquehanna County will be in the 10th or 11th CD to get a decision from Carney. Although he can run in either district if runs against Lou Barletta and his home is in the 10th you will hear the carpetbagger charge.

The clock is clicking so he will have to make a decision soon if he is going to able to raise the money to mount a challenge to either one of them.

Black Friday starts early

The last few years the big retailers have been opening up at 5AM or earlier offering "door buster deals" but they decided that wasn't good enough with many of them opening the doors at midnight or earlier on Thanksgiving Day. I can't imagine going to work or shopping after my triptophan induced coma. We watched the Lady Ga Ga special when I woke up.

I know that many stores make a big chunk of their yearly profits in the Christmas shopping season but this is ridiculous. The local news have stories about people camping out waiting for the doors to open then showing the rush. This will only encourage the big box stores to shit all over their employees. No wonder Occupy Wall Street has hit a nerve.

An employee of Target collected 200,000 signatures on a petition asking the company to roll back its Black Friday shopping hours but the corporate mouthpiece said no go because the shoppers demanded that they open at midnight. She added the the company big wigs would also be in the office early. Expect this guy to be fired in a couple of months on some "unrelated issue". The human toll not only includes the loss of family time.

PAHOKEE, Fla. -- A woman coming home from working her early-morning Black Friday shift at Target fell asleep at the wheel and drove into a canal, Palm Beach Sheriff's deputies said Friday.

Pure Bunkum sums it nicely with tongue firmly in cheek: Finally, the stores get us.
We want Thanksgiving out of the way as fast as possible. It’s a nuisance holiday standing between us and our Christmas shopping.


Mrs. G wanted to drag me out shopping today, I'd rather eat glass. I'm not going to deal with this nonsense

Black Friday sales start with pepper spray stampede

But few can have expected even the most determined of bargain-hunters to adopt the brutal tactics of one female shopper in a Los Angeles suburb who attacked her rivals with pepper-spray: a substance more recently associated with police brutality against Occupy Wall Street protesters...At least 20 people, including several children, were injured as the woman deployed her weapon....

This reminds me of the famous Zayre's Cabbage Patch Riot

THERE'S A RIOT GOIN ON: IN THE CABBAGE PATCH

They consequently caused consumer mayhem like in the above video clip from 1983 when a riot at Zayre's department store in Wilkes-Barre, PA broke out in which shoppers had limbs broken and teeth knocked out-- all in an effort to get to these "adoptable" lil creatures

The Blogfather had a few posts about the riot when he was writing Wilkes-Barre Online

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a time for family

Or maybe not


WHY DON’T THEY JUST OUTLAW THANKSGIVING!!!

A holiday message from Mean Old Man

Here we go again with the stupid and useless holiday, Thanksgiving!

Once again, I have to put up with my two dumb sons and their even dumber kids, not to mention their harlot wives. Damn!!!! What the hell is so special about the damned day anyhow? Everyone gets together to eat turkey and stuffing. If my wife Thelma Jean wanted me too, I could provide that practically every day courtesy of my trusty Remington. But some idiot down the way had to come up with an idea to make a holiday about eating damn supper!!!

In my day we celebrated Thanksgiving too, but it wasn’t like nowadays. Back then spoiled snot nosed kids knew their place and if they didn’t an adult in the room would be more than happy to show them the way courtesy of a fat lip. Those were the days! I remember one Thanksgiving when my old man came home from the breaker with one too many Stegs in his belly. Mom had the turkey on the table with all of the trimmings and I could still recall how good everything smelled. Anyways, Pops came out of the washroom and stumbled right into the table, knocking the leg off it and the entire turkey and rest of the food with it! All on Mom’s clean kitchen floor. I could still hear the howl in the kitchen, NO NOT FROM MOM, but from Pops because Mom had ruined Thanksgiving by not moving the table a little further from the washroom door. Fortunately, Mom had a spare turkey (that Pops had shot) in the ice box and she had to cook the meal all over again. It took hours but Mom didn’t complain because back then women knew their place and it wasn’t standing on a stage with Gloria Allred!!!! By the time we did finally eat, Pops had a long nap and was sobered up, at least until he hit the bottle again after dinner. Good Ol’ Pops, what a guy. I miss him a lot.

Women today don’t even know how to cook, let alone improvise like good ol’ Mom did. My two sons, Harlan and Clay married women whose idea of cooking a meal is throwing a TV dinner in the oven or boiling a box of spaghetti. No wonder my dumb grandkids look like refugees---and think like nitwits.

And don’t even talk to me about how my day is going to be ruined. Thelma Jean can cook a turkey with the best of them and her biscuits are the best in the world---even Joe Paterno would smile this turkey day if he tasted one!! But this great meal is going to be ruined by all these damned “family” events. I always tell my sons to go to their in-laws for dinner, but apparently even my daughters in law’s mothers can’t cook either!!

I’d like to know where my damned sons are whenever I need help fixing the chicken coops or the septic tank. Or even painting the barn!!! You know where? If you do let ME know so I can give them a good kick in the shins, like my Pop would if I disrespected him!!!!!

I’ve a mind to just skip the whole damned family thing and go to the Thanksgiving gathering at the VFW. I know that my good pals Creep, Birch and Gummo will all be there and the barkeep Mitch is making the turkey and the stuffing. Ol’ Mitch worked the mess hall back in WWII and he can make a feast out of a morsel. Plus there will be plenty of Steg there and I won’t have to worry about any of my sons swiping it.

So, all you subversives have a nice Thanksgiving. Don’t forget to send your holiday donation to the DNC. As for me, I’ll be at the bar having a few Stegs, dining on some of the best grubb this side of the Mason Dixon , puffing on a Lucky, and listening to the soothing sounds of the Andrews Sisters singing “Apple blossom time”. To hell with my stupid sons, and grandkids and their harlot wives! And while I’m at it to Hell with all of you too!!!
Happy Thanksgiving.

Scranton USPS facility threatened

The use email and online bill paying has continued to reduce the volume of mail handled by the Post Office. Couple that with some budgeting rules that requires the postal service to prepay future expenses and a limit set by Congress on the increase of the cost of postage it's no wonder that the system has a financial crises.




A few reform proposals that I have read make sense. Change the prepay rules and bring them in line with normal accounting standards and let the price of a stamp rise to a rate that reflects the cost of delivering a letter. In most Western countries first class postage is twice or more of what we pay. Even that may not be enough so the Congress should consider funding the USPS shortfall. I don't know when the Post Office became a quasi business instead of an essential public service. It is an essential public service that can not be replaced by the private sector. Fedex, UPS, DSL, etc. can't match the level of service provided by the Post Office.




Locally, budget cuts are threatening local jobs. Postal officials are looking at whether or not they should move the mail processing plant from Scranton to the Lehigh Valley.




There was a meeting last night to get public comment on the proposal. The comments were not supportive of closing the facility.




Scranton post office backers state case




Public Meeting Held on Scranton Mail Processing Facility




Postal officials expect they will save more than three million dollars by moving the processing center but local union members say it would have a much bigger hit on the local economy."The hit will be somewhere between $27 and $30 million, with probably $1.7 million lost in local and state income taxes."





11th CD Democratic candidate Bill Vinsko was at the meeting and posted this on his Facebook page:




I was proud to stand with and support the postal employees union in Scranton tonight at Scranton High School in their bid to keep the Scranton Area Processing Center open and avoid moving operations to the Lehigh Valley. This is a regional issue and concern, which will affect Luzerne and Columbia Counties. We need to do what we can to save jobs like these in NEPA! When elected to Congress, I will work to protect jobs like these!





Congressman Lou Barletta was not in Scranton for the meeting. He was at Wilkes University talking about, what else, immigration.




Immigration in spotlight




“Qué indica es que esta ley; esta cuenta se apropiará de cualquier ciudad de hacer cumplir E-Verifica si el gobierno no lo hace primero.”



Un potro del truco

Update: A response from Barletta spokesman Shawn Kelly

I read your post about the potential closing of the mail processing facility in Scranton. Rep. Barletta is concerned about this issue and was represented at the meeting by a staff member.
More than that, Rep. Barletta isn’t just talking about helping the U.S. Postal Service; he’s actively working to help it and protect its employees. Rep. Barletta is a cosponsor of and strongly supports H.R. 1351, the United States Postal Service Pension Obligation Recalculation and Restoration Act of 2011. This bipartisan bill would allow the Postal Service to apply billions of dollars in pension overpayments to the congressional mandate that requires the USPS to pre-fund the healthcare benefits of future retirees.
H.R. 1351 could protect the mail processing facility in Scranton and other postal facilities because it would alleviate the need for some of the drastic cost-cutting measures the USPS is being forced to consider.
In fact, earlier this year, dozens of postal workers took to the streets in front of Rep. Barletta’s Hazleton District Office to thank him for his support of H.R. 1351 and the postal service employees. Rep. Barletta spoke with those employees and personally pledged his support of H.R. 1351. A photo is attached.
As for your comments regarding the illegal immigration forum, it must be noted that illegal immigration impacts American jobs. Even the most conservative estimates say there are 11 million illegal aliens in the United States. How many jobs do they have? Imagine the jobs that would be available to American citizens and those legally in this country if the federal government enforced our existing immigration laws.

H.R. 1351 Gains Momentum on Capitol Hill

Newt Gingrich is the latest Republican front runner

You can point a lot of fingers at people who have poisoned the political discourse in recent years but I think that Newt Gingrich has to be given the lions share of the credit. In the 1990's he rose to prominence by tearing down his political opponents. He tore down the Democratic Speaker of the House over a book deal while doing much the same thing. His advice at the time to fellow Republicans was to call Democrats corrupt, traitors, anti-family and other things. He ended up resigning from Congress because of his own ethics problems. But somehow that is forgotten now.

Gingrich was responsible for the Government shutdown of 1995/96 then the Republicans decided to impeach the President over a blow job. I won't even get into the thrice married Georgia Congressman's divorce from his high school teacher or his other pro-family stances.

So much for the past. Now he wants to dismantle the child labor laws.

Gingrich: Laws preventing child labor are 'truly stupid'

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/19/gingrich-laws-preventing-child-labor-are-truly-stupid/

CNN) - Newt Gingrich proposed a plan Friday that would allow poor children to clean their schools for money, saying such a setup would both allow students to earn income and endow them with a strong work ethic.

I turned down the free lunch when I was in school although I was eligible for it because I didn't want to put up with razzing. Imagine what stigma kids emptying trash cans and moping floors would have to endure? Children can be cruel and kids from poor families are easy targets.

I know the press likes that Newt throws out ideas even if they are not well thought out. Remember his idea for giving a laptop to every student.

He may have traction unlike the other not Romneys but I'm waiting for him to flame out so my favorite Republican candidate, Rick Santorum, can have his week in the spotlight.

Wilkes-Barre Area School District

The last election has seen some turnover in the board. The winners in the recent election were Maryanne W. Toole, Dino L. Galella, John Quinn, James F. Susek and Louis Elmy.

I bullet voted voted for Kathy Grinaway and Sam Troy.

Toole was only incumbent on the ballot and she has been going against the grain teaming with Lynn Evans. I met Galella on election day but wasn't impressed. I remember Mr. Quinn from high school when he was a bit excitable in the classroom and on the basketball court and baseball field. My commenter's tell me that Elmy has thousand of relatives working at Vo Tech which remindes us of Barbara Youngblood.

Two years ago the district decided to put a hiring policy in place and appointed a sub commitee to draft it. Christine Katsock was put in charge of the effort but it has fizzled.

We get a big tax bill from the W-B Area School District every year that I am willing to pay because there is nothing more important than teaching our young people. Taxes are the price we pay for civilisation.

The latest dustup is Wilkes-Barre Mayor Tom Leighton's son getting a job as a full time teacher .
Bad timing. I like Mayor Tom because he has done a darn good job bringing back Wilkes-Barre from financial chaos and reviving the downtown. Some people don't think that is good enough.

Redistricting of PA Congressional seats

This is the latest look of what NEPA Congressional Districts might look like according to a story by Borys in the Scranton Times today. It looks a lot different than the one that was floated in the spring and will probably be adjusted again before the final Gerrymandering is done by the Harrisburg Republicans.

This configuration has some pluses and many minuses. I like that all of Luzerne County would be in the same district and Scranton would have a different Congressman than Wilkes-Barre.

The first problem is Scranton would be in the wrong district. Until the last chop up Scranton was the anchor of the 10th CD and was ably represented for many years by Republican Joe McDade who today would be considered a RINO but in the old parlance was called a Rockefeller Republican . In today's atmosphere a guy like McDade would face a primary challenge.

This map makes the 17th CD look like a snake slithering through 5 counties with Scranton being the rattle at the end. It takes most of Carbon and Monroe counties out of the 11th but keeps most of the 10th CD counties intact except for Lackawanna.

The thing that really is annoying is that many districts don't make sense geographically. The proposed 17th CD doesn't have an entire county in it's boundaries which will create confusion. The redistricing process should be removed from the legislature and given to a committee of some grand poobahs then voted on by our salons. A hand full of states have commissions that draw the lines but I won't hold my breath waiting for Pennsylvania to adopt a fair system.

See Redistricting in America

Shawn Kelly, a spokesman for Mr. Barletta, said the congressman "is not focused on redistricting."

Renita Fennick, a spokeswoman for Mr. Marino, said he had no comment on the map.

11th CD Democratic challenger Bill Vinsko told me:

"I am committed to serving the people of Northeast and Central Pennsylvania regardless of
the exact location of the 11th Congressional District boundaries. It's time to get things done for the
people. What I said when I announced remains true: I'm not running only as a Democrat or Republican, I am running as an American. Political map makers cannot control the people no matter how hard they try. You either get the job done or you don't. I'm going to get the job done."

Bill Vinsko has finally added some content to his website. Check it out

Bill Vinsko for Congress

You Tube weekend

Guns N' Roses will be at the Arena on Sunday

We had October snow now it's November rain

Bill Vinsko responds to Barletta

From the inbox:



The people of the 11th Congressional District need JOBS to help to balance their own budgets, while Congressman Barletta proves he is part of the know-­‐nothing, do-­‐nothing
Congress.


On Thursday, November 17, 2011, Congressman Lou Barletta (R-­‐PA-­‐11) issued a fundraising email to constituents of the 11th Congressional District of Pennsylvania which leads the great people of Northeast and Central Pennsylvania to believe that a The people of the 11th Congressional District need a congressman who is ready to lead and not to follow; someone who is truly an independent thinker, guided by principle and not party doctrine, but most of all, Northeast and Central Pennsylvania need a representative rooted in the law with a full-­‐understanding of the mechanics of government and legislating, because that is how one achieves results for his constituents and not points with extremist pundits. Balanced Budget Amendment to the United States Constitution is a “necessary step” to control government spending. Mr. Barletta then says “President Obama has already made it known that he will veto the Balanced Budget Amendment if it passes in Congress.”

This statement is embarrassing to the people of the 11th Congressional District, and an example of a Congress which is not only doing nothing, but, apparently is equally unaware of the procedure for a Constitutional Amendment. I find such an inaccurate statement alarming from a member of Congress who swore an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution. The President of the United States has no veto-­‐power over any amendment to the Constitution let alone a balanced budget amendment. A proposed amendment must pass both houses of Congress with a
2/3 majority and it is immediately referred to the state legislatures where 3/4 of state houses must approve of the amendment to ratify.

Article 5 of the United States Constitution sets forth the exact procedure for a Constitutional Amendment. In 1798, the United States Supreme Court in Hollingsworth v. State of Virginia, 3 U.S. 378 (U.S. 1798), stated that the President does not have a role in the formal amendment process.

This is why the American people are upset. We have to stop using politics and scare tactics and start to get things done. This is also another example of the current Congress catering to the extremists, and an example of Mr. Barletta using the politics of fear to mislead the people of his district in order to be re-­‐elected. 74% of the public may support the intent of balanced budgets and reducing the federal deficit, and I am one of them, but 100% of the people are fed-­‐up with the partisan politics that have raised the level of dysfunction in Washington to unprecedented heights.

Ironically, even if this version of the Amendment was to pass, it would not help create one small business in the district, it would not create one job for a resident of the district, and it would not reduce one dollar of the federal deficit. For us in the 11th Congressional District, this version of the Balanced Budget Amendment would likely force critical cuts to Medicare, Social Security and crucial Veteran’s programs.

The people of the 11th Congressional District need a congressman who is ready to lead and not to follow; someone who is truly an independent thinker, guided by principle and not party doctrine, but most of all, Northeast and Central Pennsylvania need a representative rooted in the law with a full-­‐understanding of the mechanics of government and legislating, because that is how one achieves results for his constituents and not points with extremist pundits.