Reassessment in Luzerne County going forward

Commissioner Greg Skrepenak has been playing to the crowd proposing the reassessment of properties in the county be stopped. Commissioners Chairwoman Maryanne Petrilla and Commissioner Stephen A. Urban want the process to play out and Skrep's motion to stop it was ignored.

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NANTICOKE -"Motion dies. Move on please," Petrilla said.

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I checked out the protest Monday at the courthouse led by Michelle Boice from Harveys Lake and I always enjoy being in the company of my fellows citizens that petition their government for the redress of grievances. There was a lot of sloganeering including chants of "One term Petrilla" and "Pack your bags Urban."

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My view is that you can't throw out a 2 year process that cost over $8 million. Fix the mistakes and move on.

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Some other locals have a similar view:

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Political Rants-Luzerne County Reassessment and a True Democrat

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Wilkes-Barre Online-Harveys Lake 1965

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The Lu Lac Political Letter

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I have more protest pics at my Facebook account.

Law and Order: Special Victims Unit part trois

Another draconian sentence for someone caught stealing from the taxpayers.

WILKES-BARRE -A former Pittston Township secretary who pleaded guilty to stealing more than $31,000 from the township’s garbage fund was sentenced Wednesday to eight to 16 months of house arrest.

This stiff sentence was handed down by our newest Judge David Lupas. Recently President Judge Mark Ciavarella also handed down similar sentences to 2 employees of the Recorder of Deeds Office for stealing hundreds of thousands from us.

Some of our Luzerne County jurists may have an interest in establishing a precedent by sentencing people convicted of public corruption to laying on the couch watching cartoons for a few months.

NEPA Blue Cross gives away $45 million

Blue Cross donates $45 million to Commonwealth Medical College

A worthy project but is this what we pay premiums for?

As Represenative Phyllis Mundy previously said:

As you know, I’ve been an outspoken critic of the way in which Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania, a nonprofit insurer, has stockpiled surpluses while at the same time raising rates.This situation is somewhat different, however. In fact, I find the intent of these initiatives -- such as the creation of a regional medical school -- very admirable.


But, once again, as an overall policy and plan, hard questions must be asked: Is this an appropriate use of the surplus? What are the anticipated measurable results? Are any of the ideas proposed in the initiative better than simply using the surplus to hold or reduce premiums? These are fair questions that I believe deserve straightforward answers.

Blue Cross of NEPA is an interesting "nonprofit" company. The CEO and the other executives at the top of the food chain have salaries in the six figures plus bonuses and Bob Mellow and his fellow board members are paid $25,000 a year plus bonuses. The board members also get $1100 a meeting for some other duties. Nice work if you can get it.

Another deficit in Luzerne County

$10M county deficit projected

The Commissioners haven't been able to balance the budget for as long as I can remember. They always invent revenues and understate expenses. No wonder people who have seen their property values inflated by reassessment are pissed off.

Pennsylvania 10th CD air war/update

Chris Hackett has released his first 2 general election ads.

New Direction hits pork barrel spending, corporate welfare and oil prices.


Plan is semi bio and decries the raid on Social Security and ends with the tag line "we can do so much better if we have the courage to change." If I remember right "courage to change" was Bill Clinton's mantra in 1992.

From the CV Politics Blog:

Carney's campaign manager Vincent Rongione issued this statement:


"There he goes again ... typical Hackett hypocrisy. Our opponent always inability to tell the truth. He runs against Washington insiders and then has them fund his TV advertising. His ad talks about social security but he is on record favoring privatization and his campaign is bankrolled by a group that called our senior citizens "the most selfish group in America". He talks about taxes and doesn't pay his own. He complains about gas prices while he takes thousands from big oil and personally profits from their price gouging. He talks tough about immigration while hiring illegals at his home and business. Why can't Chris Hackett just keep his word? Whose side is he on? This is political hypocrisy at its worst."


Hackett's spokesman Mark Harris


I think Chris' big this is that Washington is broken, both Republicans and Democrats have failed the people. That is why Chris Hackett believes so strongly on things like earmarks reform. Incumbents are going to be against that.... People talked about gas prices in 2006 and other issues and nothing has been done. On the campaign trail he has heard repeatedly from people that they're sick of Washington."


The big news today is that Chris Hackett landed a speaking spot at the Republican Convention on the first day. He gets 2 minutes on Labor Day at 4PM which you be able to see on C-SPAN. We will see if it's on the cable networks but many people who are watching TV at that time will probably tuned into Oprah or the Jerry Lewis telethon.

This Saturday Minnesota Governor Pawlenty will be at the Dallas HQ. He just might be the VP pick.

Congressman Chris Carney also has 2 new ads up on the air.

Made In America covers gas prices, college costs and wants to keep jobs in America.

Chris Carney Energy that proclaims that he has never taken a dime from the oil companies.

Carney will miss both conventions because he will be on active duty with the Navy.

Congressman Carney has completed training to be a Predator Mission Commander, and will be involved with the Predator and Reaper Missions while on active duty. Carney has served in the Navy Reserves since 1995, and was recently promoted to the rank of Commander this summer.


I've resisted embedding the video of the ads because I'm not sure that anyone actually clicks on them. Tell me if you do. If you want to see the spots Local Values has them all.

Who will be Vice President?

All the talking heads on TV and in print seem to be saying it will be Joe Biden for the Dems and Tom Ridge for the GOP. I think we may get a surprise. How about Tom Daschle and Sarah Palin?

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My friends over at the PAWaterCooler.com have been big boosters of Sarah Palin because they think she he a great set of, um, policies.

More Kanjo TV ads

I've seen 2 new spots from Congressman Paul Kanjorski this week. He's been reminding us of his solid Democratic voting record touting his backing of veterans , affordable medicine for seniors and raising the minimum wage.


In the latest ad he takes credit for the $200 million of federal funds spent to raise the levees in the Wyoming Valley that have adverted a repeat of the 1972 Agnes flood. For all the carping about the inflatable dam, which I agree was a bad idea, he has also secured tens of millions to fix the local sewer systems that contribute to the pollution of the Susquehanna River.



Kanjorski Delivers






All the out of town prognosticators are calling this a close race but I'm not convinced. Lou Barletta is riding a wave of good publicity but what can he do for the area as a Freshman backbencher of the minority party? I know the scapegoating of immigrants hits a nerve with many people but most will realize that sending a guy to Congress who has almost no chance to accomplish anything on that issue or bring home the bacon is not a good idea.

Protest over Reassessment

The Pink Pig will be at the Luzerne County courthouse tomorrow along with the hoards that Michelle Boice will be bringing.

The festivities start at Noon.

YouTube weekend

As suggested by David



Elvis - Suspicious Minds

limerick contest,

Common Sense Political Thought is beating up John Edwards and asking for a few limricks.

I've resisted until now pointing out the failings of Don Sherwood, Newt Gingrich, Ronald Reagan and toe tapping Larry Craig. Let alone Bush and John McCain.


Go join the fun.

A guest post

WHY AMERICA HAS LOST ITS MORAL FOOTING AND HOW WE CAN RESTORE IT



A Guest Lecture by Professor Milburn Cleaver, OPA



I would first of all like to begin by thanking the webmaster for allowing me this time to express some opinions of our country's culture today. Of course, as the saying goes, opinions are like commodes, everyone has one. Regardless, I shall give it the "old college try".



Whilst strolling Wilkes-Barre's public square one recent Saturday afternoon I could not help but recoil; how things have so changed in this venue over the years. Back in the late fifties for instance, one could come to the square, sit with his sweetheart on a bench in mid park, have a Coca-Cola and a hot dog and experience a quite enjoyable time. If you glanced around the perimeter back then you would see similar singles or couples quietly enjoying themselves too; whether they were simply gazing around at the majestic buildings or feeding the pigeons. There was a serene simplicity to it all, though I am sure that the young people of today if transported to this time and place would find it repugnantly boring.



Bringing you back to the present time; today's public square is not the square of my young adulthood. As I approached the area where my sweetheart and I once sat, there were two, three or four drug dealers wearing their common "uniform" which consisted of pants three times too large for their bodies, chains that when they make contact with the sunlight, can blind you; baseball caps worn in reverse and shirts spouting various athletic franchises (mostly basketball teams). These hooligans were in the company with some young girls whom, for obvious reasons, they did not belong with. I had wondered what the parent of one of these girls would think if he knew just where his little angel was and with whom she was spending time. Indeed, a very forlorn situation.



Yes, our world has most certainly changed. Our small town, like many throughout our country, has lost its manufacturing industries in favor of such perverse offerings as the drug trade and the pornography trade. Of course, both of these professions feed off of one another to survive. However, this is not our sole problem today. To put it in a nutshell, parents have failed our children for generations and with each succeeding generation the failure is becoming more and more evident.



When I first began teaching many decades ago, I can recall walking into the classroom to witness my students simultaneously stand to greet me with "Good Morning Professor." This was a sign of respect and was not taken by me as anything but a normal gesture. We had a quality called "respect" back in those days. Today, if a Professor encountered that same greeting upon entering his classroom he would probably die from sheer shock. How tragic.



The young children of today were raised by their parents to feel that they were special and no one was above them. When undertaking most sporting events, most children never walk away a "loser" but walk away "second best". This in effect cheats the child out of the experience of disappointment and the drive to achieve better results whilst it also cheats the winner of the euphoria of victory's glory; for how can one ever strive to excel if one has not tasted the agony of defeat? I understand parents wanting everything wonderful for their children but they must understand the life itself is NOT everything wonderful. It is in fact, a series of challenges where continued success is fleeting at best. Indeed many parents will go so far as to defend their children against any wrong act they commit. Most importantly, we have thrown a cocoon around our young by implying that all is right with their world via political correctness.



As you know, I am no huge fan of public television; I consider it to be a state operated entity of liberal idealism. That aside, there is (or should I say, "was") merit to some of PBS's children's programming. But alas, now the PC crowd has even put its dirty gloves on that. Most of you are, at the very least, familiar with Sesame Street and one of the shows characters, the Cookie Monster; he has become the latest (of many) victim of the PC crowd, for, you see, cookies are harmful to children, and of course, we cannot have a puppet promoting the consumption of the awful edibles. So, lo and behold, the PC crowd re-crowns the Cookie Monster as the Veggie Monster (how pathetic is that?).



We tell our children not to smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol or do drugs and yet every evening our television screens are laden with commercials for prescription drugs that address every ailment under the sun (at times it seems that some of them have been created in order to sell the drug--seriously, have you ever heard of restless leg syndrome before that gaudy commercial?) and then we shake our head in wonderment as to why our kids are so messed up, regardless of the whether or not they have had a good home foundation. We view commercials and sporting events sponsored by Anheuser Busch, or Miller Brewing and we wonder why little Johnny crashed the car into the tree whilst soaked in booze.



In short, we live in an age where our values system is scrambled more than this mornings eggs. We have the internet (which gave us predators); we have cell phones (which give us many more car wrecks), we have miracle drugs (which gives us more addiction problems); we have, in effect, been able to achieve the majority of our dreams without the ability to manage them. This is where we are. But how do we get out???



There exist no easy answers. First off, parents need to become stern disciplinarians to their children rather than to a best friend. Law enforcement must rationalize that a crack on the butt is not child abuse yet, a punch in the mouth is (parents should not be afraid to show good old fashioned discipline). Mom and Dad must both decide as to whether it is productive for both of them to work and to leave the kids home unsupervised. I understand that both parents complain about "having" to go out to work for the family's sake but I truly believe that it is not for sake of family but for the sake of lifestyle and our "keeping up with the Jones's mentality. Is a plasma TV worth more than your son or daughter's well being and moral upbringing??? Mom, you need to stay at home. Young girls of 13 years of age must realize that they will not be young ladies until they become 18, and their mothers should not be taking them to stores to buy lipstick or to doctors to acquire birth control pills. Parents must censor that on television which is not appropriate and throw out the rock and roll and rap cd's; seize the I pods, which only will serve to create a future of hearing impaired adults. We as a nation are at a crossroads as to whether we will learn by our mistakes or continue on a downward spiral to moral decline.



The coming election in November shall dictate whether or not we go forward together or remain with the status quo liberal policies that have wrought near ruin upon us. I shall end my lecture on a promising note; Theodore Roosevelt once said, "Every human being at one time or another has a devil that masters him; it is not having been in the dark house, but leaving it that counts."



Class dismissed.

Professor Milburn Cleaver, OPA

YouTube weekend

Mrs G insisted


Elvis Presley Live - My Way

Happy Babe-Elvis Day

As we pass through another summer without enough holidays I want to remind everyone of my proposal to make August 16th a day of celebration. This is the day both Babe Ruth and Elvis Presley died.

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

Why don't we have more summer holidays? Memorial Day starts the summer and Labor Day ends it. The only mid summer holiday is Independence Day. We have 6 holidays between November and February. Why couldn't Washington, Lincoln and MLK Jr been born in the summer? And they certainly could have called off World War I a few months earlier.

YouTube weekend

Isaac Hays-RIP


Chef - Chocolate Salty Balls

Bob Mellow and Blue Cross

A guest post from my old friend Carl Romanelli.


Conflict of interest is about the most mild term that comes to mind when one thinks of Pennsylvania State Senator, Bob Mellow's post on the Blue Cross Board of Directors. Now to say this is a conflict, well no, it is the ultimate conflict of our interest. In an age when so many Pennsylvanians have no healthcare at all, while BC and other private insurance companies reap record profits, and reform is loaded in the campaign rhetoric of the political candidates; we have Bob Mellow as the Blues inside man. How on earth can we expect Senator Mellow to take seriously the legislation that is before him, like SB 300 (single payer healthcare of PA) when he receives blood money from Blue Cross?


What about mergers, reimbursement, and regulation? Worse, when caught all Mellow can say is that he sees no problem. Well certainly not problems for Bob's bank account.


In Pennsylvania Blue Cross is about the third most powerful lobby, right behind PNC bank and Blank Rome, LLC. Imagine, your state senator serving on the board of a lobby, a PAC, all while taking salary and benefits from the taxpayer in excess of $100,000.00 per year, plus pension. Yet, so many love these frauds like Mellow, Casey, Kanjorski, Shimkus, and the rest of their ilk. True to my radical callings, I protest these phonies and long for the day voters truly vote their interest instead of reinstalling those whose only link to NEPA mining is their mining of our tax dollars for their own selfish agenda.


Carl Romanelli/Luzerne County Green Party

Who will be Vice President?

The national press and others are obsessing about who will be the VP choices. I don't think it matters that much because people don't vote for Vice President.


But let's have some fun by speculating on Barack Obama's pick. Next week we will have a poll about the Republicans.

Who is in the running?

From PGR:

GOVERNOR TIM KAINE-VA

SEN EVAN BAYH-IN

FMR SEN SAM NUNN-GA

SEN JOE BIDEN-DEL-PA CONNECTION

GOV ED RENDELL-PA

Dark Horses:

SEN CHUCK HAGEL

GENERAL POWELL (AKA OBAMA LANDSLIDE)

Vote in the poll on the sidebar.

Christopher Concert for Congress-It's official

People in Pennsylvania's 11th Congressional District have another choice this November.



Concert enters 11th Congressional race to face off with Kanjorski, Barletta



Christopher Concert made it official Thursday – he’s running as a write-in candidate in the 11th Congressional District...“I guarantee this will be a well-fought race,” he said. “This race is not about Lou Barletta and Paul Kanjorski or myself. It needs to be about the over 250,000 residents who make up the 11th District.”
Concert, a perennial candidate in the Back Mountain area over the years, said he has formed a “great team” to help him. “So don’t underestimate me,” Concert said. “We need to start talking about issues that concern our residents.”
Ed Mitchell, Kanjorski’s campaign spokesman, declined comment on Concert’s announcement. Barletta said, “I welcome Mr. Concert into the race and wish him luck.”







He has this thread boosting his effort on his website Crazy Chris's Woodshed and a MySpace account, concert4congress, that declares "concert4congress is asking for your vote in the 11Th district for Congress...helping people who keep getting screwed by Uncle Sam!"

Obama hits back

As my good friend Pope George Ringo has been urging Barack Obama hits John McCain hard over the economy in 2 new ads airing in Indiana and Ohio.

The Ohio ad hammers Mac over the imminent closure of a cargo airport like the one recently proposed to be built near Hazleton.

TPM: The likely closure of a shipping hub that was bought by DHL in 2003 with the help of lobbyist and current McCain campaign manager Rick Davis -- as well as McCain himself.

Obama Hits McCain On DHL in Tough New Ad for Ohio





The Indiana spot quotes McCain saying the economy is rosy then has a bunch of "man in the street" testimonials saying it is not.








It's the economy Stupid.

Barletta on the air

America's Mayor has his first TV spot up. It sounds like a Barrack Obama ad.

Change is on the way

Lou Barletta for Congress: Change is on the Way!






I met Mayor Lou over the weekend at the Thompson Street Block Party in Wilkes-Barre.

My fellow bloggers have recaps of the event:

Wilkes-Barre Online

Another Monkey

The Lu Lac Political Letter

Harveys Lake wants to secede

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Harveys Lake has always been a swanky address with many very nice homes. Even Dan Meuser bought a voting address there. Like many of us who have been paying less property taxes than we should have for years the residents of the borough are dealing with sticker shock resulting from the first reassessment since 1965 and they don't like it. With some exceptions I feel if that if you can afford a house at the "lake" you should be able to pay the taxes.

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From the CV: The Pennsylvania Constitution says, “The electors of any municipality shall have the right, by initiative and referendum, to consolidate, merge and change boundaries by a majority vote of those voting thereon in each municipality, without the approval of any governing body.”

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I've never heard of a town switching counties.

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TL: State Rep. Karen Boback, who serves Harveys Lake and portions of Luzerne and Wyoming counties, said Kelly asked her to look into the legalities. She said she couldn’t find anything on topic.
“That’s something the law doesn’t directly address,” she said.

Bush at the Olympics

Making us proud

I can't wait until the tell all books come out in the next few years. There has to be a reason why this guy keeps falling off his bicycle or fails to commit suicide by pretzel.

The National Enquirer had the goods on John Edwards so maybe they are right on this story.

Here is a roundup of recent tabloid stories just for Zen.

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.