10th Pennsyvania CD update

Chris Hackett and Chris Carney continue the debate over debates. It's the usual dance with the challenger wanting as many as possible and the incumbent resisting the demand for one every other day. So far they have agreed to one on Oct. 30 on WVIA-TV. There may be more. “If he’d behave himself, perhaps we’d discuss more debates” according to Rebecca Gale a spokeswoman for Carney.

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Carney was busy blasting clay pigeons , missing a few, over the weekend. Before that he got some big bucks for the Honesdale Readiness Center.

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Hackett had an event with NRCC honcho Tom Cole to discuss energy and Carney talked with oilman T. Boone Pickens on how to get out of the mess that we are in.

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Carney still has a problem with the left wing over the FISA vote. Howie and Firedoglake have teamed up with some Ron Paul types to run ads against him calling the effort Strangebedfellows.

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The DCCC has started running a radio ad in the 10th to counter the pro-Hackett spots that Freedom's Watch ran last month. You can listen to it here.

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They were both on WILK this past week. If you need to listen to something while you floss your teeth this is your chance.

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Chris Carney on WILK

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Chris Hackett on WILK

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A new feature of Chris Hackett's website is a campaign blog.

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I'm all for more blogs.

Heightened Terror Alert

Here we go again. Excuse me while I shit my pants and hide under the bed.
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U.S. Headed for 'Heightened Alert' Stage
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It worked like a charm in 2004.
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I see that Tom Ridge will be touring PA with John McCain on Monday. Someone told me that the real reason that Ridge resigned as DHS Secretary is that he is color blind and the terror alert system turned his life into a living hell.
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Via Attytood

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YouTube weekend

More techno

Kraftwerk - Autobahn

YouTube weekend

Chemical Brothers - Hey Boy Hey Girl

Straight Talk Express Crashed

Really.

McCain bus in Miami crash

Into a blue van no less.

Maybe John McCain will now get around on a Jazzy supplied by Dan Meuser.

I've been told that he showed up for the big Harley rally in Sturgis riding one.

Sturgis: Sex, Alcohol, Drugs, Bikers And John McCain

PA 11th poll

It comes from the Lou Barletta campaign so take it with a grain (boulder) of salt.

From PolitickerPA:

The poll, conducted by Susquehanna Polling and Research in Harrisburg, found Barletta leading the longtime incumbent, 45 percent to 41 percent. An earlier poll commissioned by the campaign, released in in June, found similar results. In both polls, a margin of error of almost 5 percent means the two candidates continue to be in a dead heat in a race that has grown increasingly contentious.

Without the methodology and cross tabs it's hard to decide if this is a valid picture of the race. It's not uncommon for a campaign to put out favorable poll numbers in a race whatever the source

The TL also covers it:

“We don’t comment on our opponents’ polls and we don’t release the data in ours,” Kanjorski campaign spokesman Ed Mitchell said.
Barletta spokesman Shawn Kelly said the campaign is pleased with the results, especially since Kanjorski has begun airing television ads.

The Thompson Street Block Party

Mark of Wilkes-Barre Online and his neighbors are having their annual blowout on Saturday:

Last call for partiers!
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Three days and counting before the first barrel gets tapped, etc., etc., etc.
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Since one of it’s extra-terrestrial founders is going to be on hand here on Thompson Street, the secretive Saturday OT Committee and Operatic Society, which has cures-in-waiting for 99% of the world’s many ills, is obviously invited. ...
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As one of the joint chiefs of the long-running local bloggers (BLOGCOM), I would also like to invite all of my fellow BLOGCOM joint chiefs and underlings. Are you a member of BLOGCOM? Easy, are your archive listings longer than your most recent post? Yeah? Well, there you go, you’re practically a joint chief already.
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Personally, I’d like to see every local blogger here on Saturday, because I think it’d be a hoot watching so many people trying to avoid having their pictures taken at the same time. Point….click…mass duck.

See you there.

Wilkes-Barre Barack Obama HQ opening

From That's How I See It :

This is the Grand Opening of the Wilkes-Barre Obama Headquarters.

Time and Info

Date: Thursday, August 7, 2008

Time: 7PM-10PM

Street: 238 Kidder Street

City: Wilkes-Barre

Update:

The Speakers will be:

U.S. Senator Bob Casey

Luzerne County Democratic Chairman Mark Bufalino

State Representative Eddie Day Pashinski (121st District)

Delegate to the National Convention Rita Boyle

Meet the candidate

Mifflinburg, PA—Congressman Christopher P. Carney has announced his next Listening Tour Town Hall Meeting at 1:00PM on Friday, August 8th at the Carriage Corner Restaurant at 257 East Chestnut Street in Mifflinburg. We’ll be focusing on the very important and pressing issues of Social Security and Medicare and I have asked the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare (NCPSSM) to join us at the town meeting for this discussion. The National Committee is a membership organization that advocates on behalf of Social Security and Medicare and other programs affecting older Americans.


Chris Hackett is having a BBQ with John Boehner House Republican Leader
Saturday, August 9th, 2008
12:00 Noon at
The Farm of Michael and Barbara Lacey 613 Valley View Rd Dallas, PA 18612

DeAngelo brothers threaten to sue Kanjorski

From Rollcall:

Barletta Associates Pre-emptively Threaten Democrats With Legal Action

Business associates of Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta (R) have issued a rare pre-emptive strike against possible Democratic plans to use their troubled past to smear the Republican in his race against Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.).
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To read the whole story you have to have a subscription but it has to do with this story by Borys in the CV.

Barletta contributors questioned

Paul and Neal DeAngelo, the owners of DBiServices Inc., each gave Barletta $1,000 on March 28.In 1994, Paul DeAngelo was sentenced to 18 months in jail for his role in the Empire drug ring, which operated in the late 1980s. He was released in 1995.

I'll post an update as soon as I get more details.

Update from PolitickerPA:

Barletta allies seek pre-emptive deflection of campaign attacks

Specifically, the brothers and their company, DeAngelo Brothers Inc., sought to prevent any allegations that the brothers purchased Barletta's company with illegal money, allegations both Barletta and the brothers describe as patently false....

"The purpose of his letter is to inform you that such statements are demonstrably false and are considered by DBI and its principles to be defamatory," attorney Donald Brobst of Rosenn Jenkins & Greenwald LLP wrote in the July 25 letter, Roll Call reported. "You can be assured that DBI and its principals will immediately take all steps necessary to protect their interests in the event that you or any other persons acting on behalf of the Congressional Campaign of Congressman Kanjorski make false and defamatory statements concerning the purchase of IRM or any other matter."

A DCCC spokeswoman told Roll Call that the letter said more about Barletta's campaign than about any campaign plans by the Democrats, saying "voters ought to question what's worrying Lou Barletta's supporters so much that they resorted to these heavy-handed threats."

Russ Bigus for State Represenative

"I want to be in Harrisburg. I'll do whatever it takes to get there."-Russ Bigus

PolitickerPA has an interview with 117th State Rep District Democratic nominee Russ Bigus. The last time he ran for office he was a Republican candidate in the 20th Senate District primary in 2006, he came in fourth. Since then he switched party's along with his pal Bill Jones.


Chris Borick, a pollster and political science professor at Muhlenberg College in Allentown thinks he has a good chance of winning; "Because he had his roots as a Republican, he might be able to draw some support from across party lines." He also points out that a freshman that had a competitive primary race may be vulnerable. James May gave Karen Boback a good run in the spring but came up short by about 1100 votes out of 7300 cast while Bigus was unopposed for the Democratic nomination and garnered 5665.

Bigus takes some unconventional positions for a Democrat backing the NRA and bashing teacher's strikes and is trying to win over May supporters.

PAPoliticker reporter Dan Hirschhorn tried to get Karen to talk about the race but:

Boback did not return nearly a dozen messages left in July at her district office, her campaign office and her house.

Maybe this constituent has her cell phone number.

Christopher Concert for Congress

It looks like Kurt Shotko didn't get enough signatures to get on the ballot but you can still run a write-in campaign.

Concert to seek write-in

Christopher Concert of Swoyersville Tuesday said he will challenge 12-term Democratic incumbent Paul E. Kanjorski and Republican challenger Lou Barletta as a write-in candidate...

Concert said he believes the new electronic voting machines make it easy to get write-in votes.

The write-in strategy will probably not work in a high profile general election race but it has possibilities in a local primary contest like tax collector or city council.

Update: He has a website

Crazy Chris's Woodshed

Huh?

A story in yesterday's CV about the latest squabble over campaign contributions in the 11th Congressional district race had this tidbit:

In 1994, Paul DeAngelo was sentenced to 18 months in jail for his role in the Empire drug ring, which operated in the late 1980s. He was released in 1995.

As a government witness in the trial of another ring member, Neal DeAngelo, who was not charged, testified that Luzerne County Judge Michael T. Conahan called him in 1986 to say Paul DeAngelo was doing business with a cocaine dealer who was being investigated. The judge, according to the testimony, offered to put them in touch with a Florida dealer, Neal DeAngelo testified.

Conahan was never charged in the case.

I wasn't aware of this case because I wasn't living in Luzerne County at the time. Conahan is the subject of an FBI investigation involving PA Child Care and Western PA Child Care centers formerly owned by his business partner attorney Robert Powell.

Conahan has also steered over $1 million in county business to his brother-in-law and has lead the witch hunt against Judge Ann Lokuta.

Boscov’s

My favorite department store is in financial trouble filing for Chapter 11 protection yesterday. The rumor that Boscov's will close it's Wilkes-Barre store has popped up over the last few years but now it may be closer to reality.

I would hate to see it go because I usually do my Christmas shopping there instead of dealing with the overcrowded malls and the prices are better.

Al Boscov stuck with Wilkes-Barre during the dark days when he would have been justified closing the doors when the square was looking like a ghost town. And he was instrumental in getting my favorite entertainment venue, The Kirby Center, off the ground:

Businessman Al Boscov drew praise when he acquired the Fowler, Dick and Walker: The Boston Store, one of the last remaining downtown department stores in Wilkes-Barre, in 1980. He opened his store on South Main Street in 1981. Four years later, Boscov, August L. Simms, attorney John Moses and the F.M. Kirby Foundation assembled a team of local business and civic leaders and put together a drive that raise $3.3 million to acquire and restore the old Paramount Theater. Thanks to the funds raised, the F.M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts opened on Sept. 19, 1986.

And whenever I have to go downtown I park in their garage. It's free if you buy something so the free parking usually costs me about 50 bucks by the time I get done shopping.

Sitemeter explains what went wrong

From Michelle


Problems this past weekend

As many of you are aware there was a significant problem with our SiteMeter code and IE 6/7 browsers Friday night and early Saturday morning. Now that we’ve fixed the problem and had a chance to catch our breath we wanted to take a few minutes and provide a more detailed explanation of what occurred.

The explanation gets all geeky but they say they are sorry:

Sadly this situation required many of you to stay up late Friday night or get out of bed early Saturday morning to work on your websites. For this we sincerely apologize.

I slept in Saturday morning.

President-The map

Dem: 298 - Rep: 240

Colors are reversed.

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The way I see it.

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Solid McCain:

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South Carolina 8 Electoral Votes, Tennessee 11, Alabama 9, Kentucky 8, Nebraska 5, Oklahoma 7, Idaho 4, Wyoming 3, Utah 5.

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Lean McCain:

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Mississippi 6, Louisiana 9, Arkansas 6, Texas 34, South Dakota 3, Kansas 6, Arizona 10, West Virginia 5

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Toss Up:

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New Hampshire 4, North Carolina 15, Georgia 15, Florida 27, Missouri 11, Ohio 20, Indiana 11, North Dakota 3, Montana 3, Alaska 3, Michigan 17

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Lean Obama:

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Pennsylvania 21, Virginia 13, Minnesota 10, Iowa 7, Colorado 9, New Mexico 5, Nevada 5

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Solid Obama:

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Maine 4, Vermont 3, Massachusetts 12, Connecticut 7, Rhode Island 4, New York 31, New Jersey 15, Delaware 3, Maryland 10, DC 3, Illinois 21, Wisconsin 10, California 55, Washington 11, Oregon 7, Hawaii 4

Right now I would say it's going to be a blowout.

YouTube weekend

Then you flew your lear jet up to nova scotia To see the total eclipse of the sun

Your So Vain~Carly Simon

You Tube Weekend

The evil Viacom Company won't like this

Cyndi Lauper - I Drove All Night

You can read the blog in Firefox

Internet explorer has a glitch right now that I hope will fixed before I wake up tomorrow. But until then there are no error messages if you open Gort42 in Firefox.

From Another Monkey:

By the way: SiteMeter is causing an error in all Blogspot blogs (and other sites) when you open them through Like, you can't open the sites. At all. I'm going in throug a SiteMeterectomy. Hopefully they will get this issue resolved pronto.This must be some new feature - it was only a problem with some sites last night, and now it seems universal. So they must have been rolling it out on a few servers last night, and then got them all by today.



Thanks DB

Spiro Agnew

All the talking heads on the cable news channels, newspapers and bloggers are caught up in the veepstakes.

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My view is that it doesn't matter much who McCain or Obama picks for the number 2 spot because people don't vote for Vice President. As long as they don't get burned by picking a Tom Eagleton or Admiral Stockdale it won't impact the campaign. Nixon won with Agnew on the ticket and President Bush got away with Dan Quayle.

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Trying to make the VP pick an issue didn't work for Hubert Humphrey but I love this old ad.

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1968 Election Ad

Give the money back

Everybody is dumping indicted Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens money and Down With Tyranny is alleging that the Northern Lights PAC is a money laundering scheme.

Getting in on the act Paul Kanjorski is calling on Lou Barletta to return a $1,000 contribution he received from Stevens in 2002 saying "Barletta basically buys into the GOP culture of corruption that forced them out of the leadership in Congress in 2006 and still persists today. Special interests like Halliburton and oil companies dominate the Bush administration, lobbyists run the McCain campaign and indicted public officials contribute to Barletta.”

Barletta campaign manager Vince Galko said Kanjorski’s “desperation knows no limits.”
“This campaign has not received a contribution from the PAC in question,” Galko said. “Six years ago this PAC made a contribution to the 2002 campaign. This was long before any allegations were made against the senator.”

I hate to agree with Barletta on anything but I think he has a point. Just about every campaign has a few of these give the money back squabbles.

A few weeks ago Chris Hackett called on Chris Carney to return contributions from Charlie Rangel.

Most of the time these inside baseball arguments are don't register with voters. Maybe a public financing scheme for Congressional campaigns is the best way to get past it. An added benefit would be that the "special interests" won't be able to buy legislation.

The weather in southern Africa

While the rest of you are in bed I usually watch the re-run of Hardball at 3AM after I get home from work or try to because sometimes Mrs G tunes in The Family Guy because I'm busy surfing. And another helpful programming note for you 2nd shifters and insomniacs, Arlis is on ESPN Classic at 2:30.

But anyway every night/morning at 3:30AM a bit comes on MSNBC with the presenter saying "Welcome to all our new viewers in southern Africa, here is today's weather"...then we get the temps in Capetown and Zimbabwe in Celsius.
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People in Africa watch MSNBC?

So as a public service announcement to all the readers of GORT42 in southern Africa here is the the weather report for South Africa:
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Another Kanjo ad

This is the 3rd TV ad from the Paul Kanjorski reelection campaign since mid-June. Maybe all the handicappers such as Cook, Rothenberg, CQ and The Fix are on to something.


Kanjorski votes so seniors can afford medicine

Carney on the air

And in the news.

A TL story touts the advantages of caring for seniors in their homes instead of a nursing home tying into Chris Carney's Caregiver Tax Relief Act of 2008 (HR 6448). He also visited a federal training center in Alabama that will train first responders to deal with "Bombing rural Wal-Marts would be devastating to America,” among other things. He also introduced the “Made in America Act,” (H.R. 6611) which offers tax cuts to support American companies that keep their jobs and businesses “made in America.” That's a tough nut to crack.


Restore Honor




The Chris Hackett camp responded to the spot by saying that Carney wears Nancy Pelosi's underwear or something like that. Memo to my GOP friends, it's going to be hard to vilify a soft spoken grandmother even if she is from San Francisco.

And the Sierra Club has a response to the Freedom Watch radio ads about offshore drilling backing Carney.

Listen here.

Meet the candidate

Williamsport, PA—Congressman Christopher P. Carney has announced his next Listening Tour Town Hall Meeting in partnership with AARP Pennsylvania at 10:00AM on Tuesday, July 29th at the Mary Welch Honors Hall at Lycoming College on 334 Basin Street in Williamsport. He will be available to discuss issues affecting our community, including actions Congress is taking to protect working families, support our veterans and stimulate our economy. Congressman Carney will have staff on hand to help with casework issues, including veterans’ benefits, Social Security, Medicare payments and stimulus payments. In addition, representatives from AARP Pennsylvania will also be available to answer questions.


Congressman Paul E. Kanjorski (PA-11) will hold a telephone town meeting on health care to discuss with his constituents the issues that are important to them and hear their opinions... To RSVP, please visit http://kanjorski.house.gov or call (570) 825-2200. If you RSVP, you will receive a phone call at the start of each meeting which will automatically connect you to the live telephone town meeting. If you would like to RSVP, you must do so by 4 p.m. on Tuesday, July 29.
WHEN:
Tuesday, July 29 at 7:30 p.m. – On health care and Congressman Kanjorski’s efforts to ensure that Americans can afford the care they need and make sure that care is readily available.

YouTube weekend

Get off of my lawn..........and my sidewalk.

Store's don't like it when a bunch of kids gather outside the entrance and I don't like it when a bunch of skateboarders are zinging up and down my sidewalk. Here is a deterrent.

BBC: A device emitting a soundwave which is designed to drive young troublemakers away from a problem area of Swindon has been hailed as a success. Listen to the sound online.

I only hear some noise.


The 'Mosquito' sonic deterrent device...the sound resembles that of a buzzing insect. And it works by emitting a harmless ultra sonic tone that generally can only be heard by people aged 25 and under. In trials, it has proven that the longer someone is exposed to the sound, the more annoying it becomes.


There is a simple solution to get rid of kids that are annoying. Stick a speaker in the window and blast this at them. They scatter in a few minutes.

Barry Manilow

Dan Meuser backers still not supporting Chris Hackett

GOP PA-10th CD nominee Chris Hackett had a nice fund raising quarter raising a few more dollars than incumbent Democrat Chris Carney, $367,000 to $353,000. He also dropped in another $250,000 of his own coin. The all important cash on hand number shows Carney with $1,149,938 to Hackett's $266,816. I'm sure that Hackett will be able to make up that deficit by writing a few more checks.

From the TL: A look at the list of about 300 Hackett donors filed Tuesday with the Federal Election Commission reveals only 10 names that could be found on Meuser’s pre-primary donor list...“Certainly in a choice between Chris Hackett and Chris Carney, I choose Chris Hackett,” Meuser said...“I don’t like asking or putting a hand out,” he said, adding that he urges all party members “to support good Republican candidates in the November election.”

But he had no problem asking people to pony up $250 to have lunch with John McCain at the Westmoreland Club.

A comment on the TL story: Dan Meuser, hats off to you. You are a class act for your statements. I know personally I could never support someone who has attempted to defame my character and my family. I believe this political race has now come down to who the better person is not which party they belong to. Chris Hackett and his team did run a dirty campaign and that's not the kind of politics we need in our area. I did support Dan Meuser and I will not support Chris Hackett. My check and my vote will go to Chris Carney.

And a guest post from our friend KAR:

In the months following the primary election I had time to reflect on the outcome and determine what course of action I would follow. As many of you know I decided to actively encourage voters, republican and democrat, to “write-in” Dan Meuser’s name in November.

I know that many democrats are not entirely pleased with Chris Carney, and I also know that many republicans are not thrilled with the prospect of representation by Chris Hackett.

I continue to write letters and occasionally post something on the blogs. It is far less exciting than the build up to the April primary, but it gives me the satisfaction of knowing that I’m doing something. My hope is that Hackett loses, and Dan gets a shot at Carney in 2010.

Some, it would seem, have taken exception to my ideas, and have gone as far as suggesting that a “write-in” vote for Dan would be an abuse of the voting privilege(Dave Kveragas Times Leader July 21st). There were many abusive incidents during the lead up to the April Primary; writing in Dan’s name hardly rises to the level of abuse.

I don’t want to seem like I’m stuck on this, but honestly, and with no bitterness I’ve concluded that I do not want to be represented by Chris Hackett. He is, in my opinion, devoid of principles, integrity & honesty. The prospect of long term representation by him is far worse, in my opinion, than one more term of Chris Carney.

Hackett attempted to smear the good name of Pride Mobility, its many employees, and local business that sell & service Pride Products. His campaign admitted to contacting former Pride employees with no other purpose than to dig for dirt, they were unsuccessful.

Hackett’s campaign will fully misrepresented the facts concerning the hiring of 3illegals by Pride 13 years ago, even having one of their surrogates (a former WayneCounty District Attorney) go as far as suggesting criminality, they knew full well that was not the case.

They demogogued the issue of outsourcing suggesting that Pride was sacrificing local employment opportunities by sending jobs to China, they knew this to be untrue. The list goes on & on, they were shameless in their lies.

Hackett exposed himself as a hypocrite by not disclosing the existence of his very own illegal cleaning girl “Susie”, all the while he was hammering Pride about an incident, an administrative incident, 15 years ago, he had an illegal cleaning his house…world class hypocrisy.

We all remember the Vincente Fox visit, and Hackett’s protesting of said visit, the visit his company sponsored…more hypocrisy.

Hackett exposed himself as a liar by crowing about bringing new businesses to the area, one small problem, one of the companies, C3i, had to go public disavowing any relationship with Hackett.

The CFO of C3i wrote a letter indicating that Hackett had little or nothing to do with the company’s decision to locate here; he further stated that they had to terminate a relationship with Hackett’s temp agency due to poor performance.

You want to talk about abuse, talk about the abuse doled out by the Hackett campaign, remember that abuse when you vote in November. I’m voting for Dan Meuser.


Kevin

Chasing John McCain

I don't do mornings and this one got off to a bad start. I slept later than I should have then went into panic pass mode to get the Kirby Center for John McCain's town meeting on time. Gulped a coffee, threw on some clothes then headed downtown, parked at Boscov's then ran across Public Square in the rain a few minutes after 10AM.

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Going through security they asked me to empty my pockets of metal, keys and any electronics. The person checking my stuff couldn't figure out my camera because it had a message that said "Replace the Camera Battery." He asked me to turn it on but I couldn't because the battery was dead. Then he said to me "I can't verify that this a camera so it can't come in. Please take it back to your vehicle."

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Huh?

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Ignoring all the smart ass/witty/relevant remarks that came to mind I ran back to the car and emptied my pockets of everything that had any metal except my car keys and on my second try to get in I was again stopped and told to step to the side this time to be electronically searched.

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Somehow I made it inside after all that.

More to come...............................

New Kanjo TV ad

Paul Kanjorski Stands Up For Veterans

It features some local veterans reminding us that the VA Medical Center in Plains Twp. was on the chopping block just a few years ago.

John McCain in Wilkes-Barre today

I will be at the Kirby Center for the 10AM Town Hall meeting and hope to run into some other local bloggers. Chis Hackett will MC the event with Sen. Lisa Baker doing the introduction. Mayor Tom Leighton said he intends to to welcome Sen. McCain to the city. Hazelton Mayor Lou Barletta will not be in attendance because he will be in Berwick listening for people with funny accents.


I will skip the fundraiser at the Westmoreland Club, not that they would actually let me in the door. As Groucho said....

The last day of vacation

I tuned out the news channels this week. I recommend it to everyone.

Daniel Kingery for President

Daniel Kingery is running for President. I hope he gets on the ballot somewhere.

YouTube weekend

Talking Heads - Burning Down The House

My friend David

I just got home from vacation and was reading my local blog buddies when this hit me in the gut.


http://lulacpoliticaletter.blogspot.com/2008/07/lulac-edition-521-july-14th-2008.html


Coal Region Voice lived through it as have so many others.

The LuLac Political Letter














David is devoted to his church that went out of business.


St John The Baptist Church

YouTube weekend

What did you do on your vacation Gort?


The Go Go's - Our Lips Are Sealed

This work thing screws up my summer every year

Not to mention what it does to the baseball season.

Vacation is too short. Tomorrow we will return to Wilkes-Barre.

bananarama - cruel summer






Another timed post. What happened this week?

Fun at the beach

It's not just swimming, eating and shopping.

Garrys Mod - Sex On The Beach





And there are games to be played according to Mrs. G

Beach Blanket Bingo

Outlet shopping

Another time delayed post. If anything interesting happens in NEPA politics let me know in the comments. I'll be back too soon.


Mrs. G usually wants to visit the outlet stores on Rte 1 in Rehoboth where she tells me we will save lots of money because of all the fabulous bargains to be had. My observation that we will save even more money by not buying a bunch of stuff we may or may not need always is dismissed.

I surrender.

I don't "shop", I buy stuff

A classic from Miss C.

Food and drink at the beach

One of the pleasures of vacation is not cooking. We have our usual dining spots in Rehoboth including Aqua Grill, Catchers, Dos Locos, Finbar's Pub & Grill and the Frogg Pond.

But our favorite is Irish Eyes Pub & Restaurant in Lewes. They have an outdoor deck next to the canal where we always have a great meal and watch the boats come and go.

Cheeseburger in Paradise





The Pina Colada Song

Hurricane watch

One of things to worry about when you plan a beach vacation is a hurricane ripping up the coast.

From Old Horsetail Snake

From the Onion via Danny

Bush Tours America To Survey Damage Caused By His Presidency

Don't look up

The sand pigeons, also know as seagulls, are always pain at the beach.




A Flock Of Seagulls - I Ran

YouTube weekend

This will be our first day on the beach and I will be enjoying the scenery.

Let me know what I’m missing in the comments.

Bombalurina - Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini

YouTube weekend

On the way to the beach.

If anything interesting happens let me know in the comments.


Go-Go's - Vacation

Off to the beach

I programed a post for everyday we will be gone and I hope it works. If anything newsworthy happens let me know in the comments. While we are at the beach the only TV we watch is the weather channel and baseball. No news, no internet and no newspapers.

Dubya's greatest hits

No matter who wins the the election at least we will have a President that can speak the English language.

George W Bush - American Idiot



Thanks to Jacq for the video

The only Beach Boys song I've ever liked

The Muppets do it better.

Kokomo by The Muppets





The Beach Boys - Kokomo

Winding down

We are getting ready for the dog's vacation so I won't be posting much for the next few days. Let me know what I'm missing in the comments. I will program some time delayed posts while we are away.





Lighthouse-Sunny Days 1972

NEPA Blogs

After a lull me and DB Echo are again busy listing links to our local scribes at NEPA Blogs . I hope our new entries hang around for a while so we can live down our reputation as the kiss of death for new blogs.

Check out some of the new entries:

Dining in and around Northeastern Pennsylvania

Northeast Pennsylvania Center for Independent Living

Postranger.com.

NEPARunner.com

Local Values

That's How I See It

Tax and Small Business Forum

The Duped Scholar

Stop the Supply Sider Insanity

Debating debates

In a time honored tradition GOP challenger Chris Hackett has called for a series of debates with freshman Democrat Chris Carney then complains when the Carney camp doesn't agree to everything he wants.

Some choice quotes from the CV.

Republican Hackett says incumbent Carney unwilling to debate challenge

“If he’s willing to do these debates, then accept our challenge,” Hackett said. “Let’s get this settled and get the debates scheduled.”

“He is flat out not telling the truth,” Carney said of Hackett. “We have maintained contact and conversations about debates several times. He is just trying to throw as much mud as possible and hope something sticks.”

“The bottom line is (Carney’s campaign) has been stonewalling us from day one,” Hackett spokesman Mark Harris said. “They don’t want to do debates. We want to do debates. As today makes clear, they are going to do everything they can to avoid talking about Chris Carney’s liberal record.”

“I’m not a human caller ID,” Carney campaign manager Vince Rongione said ...“This release is a flat out lie,” he said. “I’ve been in conversations with them privately — professional, civilized conversations. They’ve now chosen to do the only thing they now how to do, which is go negative and attack. It’s very unprofessional.”

“Just because (Hackett) wants to debate doesn’t necessarily mean we are going to debate eight times,” Carney said.

If this is any indication of the level of discourse we can expect more fireworks than the 4th of July when they do meet.

Speaking of the 4th, Keystone Politics reports that Hackett was at the parade in Montrose handing out American flag pins made in China. Not that there is anything wrong about that since just about everything we buy anymore is made in another country. Pretty soon the only thing that will be made in the USA will be magnetic car ribbons.

Asylum Street Spankers Video-Stick Magnetic Ribbons on Your SUV

Sam Guesto's feelings are hurt

“Have you seen the man? He’s probably lost 80 pounds since everything started. He’s suffering greatly.”

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Luzerne County Commissioner Chairwoman Maryanne Petrilla has been saying some mean things about Guesto according to his lawyer and he sent her a cease and desist letter.

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According to Attorney William Shehwen of the Philadelphia area Petrilla called him a "thief,” “gangster” and a “thug'" and alleges that she is trying to get him fired from the court administrator position that she voted to create when everybody knew the job was invented for him.

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Guesto resigned as County Manager/Chief Clerk after it was revealed that he was in charge of the debit cards that were abused by everyone that got one and changed the purchasing policy at the Luzerne County prison to favor some well connected people that appears to be both a violation of the county's purchasing policy and state law telling the kitchen supervisor “do it or it’s your ass.” The last straw seems to be when he decided to redesign the proposed new prison on his own adding millions to the cost.

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The debit card abuse is being investigated by the Secret Service and the piecemeal contracting at the prison is supposedly being looked into by some secret police outfit according to District Attorney Jackie MO. Maybe if you go to her golf outing you can team up with the Yonk and ask her what is going on.

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GUESTO’S DEBIT-CARD PURCHASES

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In another federal investigation

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Ciavarella’s alleged bias subject of Friday hearing

Who belongs to the Westmoreland Club?

Westmoreland Club site of $250/plate McCain event

Dan Meuser is bringing GOP Presidential candidate John McCain to Wilkes-Barre on July 23 and it's an invitation only event. When it was first announced I thought the event would be at Genetti's but the "Club" makes more sense. I'm still hoping for a press pass that day.