That’s right, Pennsylvanians. You will no longer have to hide your head in shame here.
Liquor Freedom For Pennsylvania Looms — Soon Pennsylvanians won’t have to sneak through the back roads on the way home from Delaware to avoid traps by minions of the Liquor Control Board.
The most significant section of the law decriminalizes buying liquor out of state. Our reading of the bill indicates that the fines of $10 per bottle or can of beer and $25 per container of wine or liquor for bringing booze across the border remain in effect but the alcohol is returned to the buyer if he pays the appropriate taxes.
Further the bill states Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit any resident of this commonwealth not licensed under this act to purchase liquor outside of this commonwealth so long as the resident pays all state taxes on the liquor to the department of revenue and the liquor is not shipped into this commonwealth.
One of the most seemingly mundane, yet simultaneously fascinating experiences of my academic career involved recycling aluminum cans in a General Chemistry class I took at Delaware County Community College. My family has always been “green”, even before it was fashionable. Turn off the spigot while brushing your teeth, compost table scraps, grow backyard vegetables, use only what you need, waste not want not – all valuable lessons taught to me by my parents and their siblings, the Greatest Generation. Perhaps this stems from their strong Faith as we are all us called to be good stewards of our resources, quite possibly because they lived through the Depression and truly knew what it was to want.
Progressive hipsters thought saving jobs and recycling waste was something to laugh at.
This week Donald Trump gave a speech at a recycling plant in Pennsylvania and that region of the Internet known as Twitter couldn’t contain itself. Garbage speech in front of garbage pile stated one user, countless Oscar the Grouch references, cheap shots at the folks running the campaign, at Trump himself, the list goes on.
Those bales of crushed cans represented many things to me: jobs at factories producing the nations beverages; the countless hours of enjoyment at picnics, parties, gatherings at pubs and Legion halls, quick refreshment on street corners and in office building alike and of course the refuse collectors who gather this material from our curbs and the men and women who work in these recycling plants to make the most of our natural resources. Those cans also represented human ingenuity, the will to produce something convenient and affordable, something many of us take for granted today yet didn’t exist at the country’s founding.
To read the negative comments from Twitter users was bothersome. I have to wonder how many of these people are the ones that don’t want the jobs supposedly Americans don’t want to do, to justify unfettered immigration and open borders. Are these the hypocrites that drone on and on about saving the planet yet don’t bother to throw their own trash in a receptacle let alone separate material for recycling while demanding more intrusive regulations from the EPA. Are we as a people so out of touch that we forget convenience comes with a price.
To read these comments stating this material was “garbage” and not useful material destined for re-purposing reinforces the sad notion we live in a throwaway society. Here were images of an business, providing a service not only for consumers but quite possibly to the health of the planet and a sizable number of comments were so crass the only garbage I witnessed were the comments of a spoiled bunch of elitist brats from their safe spaces.
The phrase one man’s trash is another man’s treasure comes to mind…
McGinnis Describes Bad Budget Bill — Pennsylvania’s General Fund budget plan for fiscal year 2016-17 was passed, yesterday, June 28, by the state House of Representatives by a vote of 132-68. Among those voting no was Rep. John McGinnis (R-79).
Here are the top 10 reasons I voted ‘NAY’ on the budget:
No. 10 Increased revenues from tobacco taxes are inherently unfair because we are asking a small and relatively poor number of citizens to contribute to the general expenses of the Commonwealth.
No. 9 Revenues from tax amnesty and gaming are highly unreliable, and it is improper to cover the expenses of necessary government functions with uncertain sources.
No. 8 Running a budget with recurring expenses and non-recurring revenues is perpetuating and aggravating the ‘structural deficit’ problem.
No. 7 The budget was available for full review to rank-and-file members on Monday night and the vote was Tuesday afternoon – not exactly much time for due diligence.
No. 6 The accompanying code bills (the spending instructions) were unavailable for review before the budget vote.
No. 5 Tax votes necessary to fund the budget were scheduled AFTER the budget vote.
No. 4 The 6 percent increase in education funding is good money after bad. Spending per pupil is up nearly 50 percent net of inflation over the past 20 years without any significant improvement in student performance. We are clearly not living up to the constitutional requirement for an ‘efficient system of public education
No. 3 The 6 percent increase in funding for the Legislature is indefensible, as we should be leading by example on fiscal discipline.
No. 2 The 4.8 percent increase in overall spending includes unwarranted increases in discretionary expenses, well in excess of population growth and inflation. McGinnis’s First Law of Taxation: It’s the spending, stupid! If you spend a dollar you must tax a dollar, and this is a budget that says taxpayers are NOT doing enough. I reject that claim.
No. 1 The budget is unbalanced as it has insufficient pension contributions to keep the pension debt from growing, and that is unconstitutional.”
The legislation, Senate Bill 1073, sets total state spending at $31.55 billion, which is $1.49 billion, or 4.8 percent, more than the current fiscal year. The budget plan does not call for any new or increased income or sales taxes.
The proposal raises new, recurring revenues from a mix of sources, including increased taxes on tobacco products, reforms to the liquor sales system, expanded gaming and a tax amnesty program. The bill now heads back to the Senate for concurrence.
The shortest escalator in the world is the puchicalator in Kawasaki, Japan. It’s five steps. And they are descending steps. You can also call it the most useless escalator in the world.
Shortest escalator William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 6-28-16
Among those found guilty with him was Herbert Vederman, a long-time Democrat man of influence who is still listed at ZoomInfo.com as senior consultant for the Government and Public Affairs Group at Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young, a Philadelphia law firm.
Val DiGiorgio
Think he knew Val DiGiorgio? Val is the Chester County Republican Party chairman who chairs Stradley Ronon’s banking and public finance sections and includes Government and Public Affairs as part of his “focus”.
Wonder if Vederman knew Josh Shapiro. Josh, who chairs the Montgomery County Democrat Party, is counsel at Stradley Ronon. He is this year’s D candidate for state Attorney General.
The last use of the death penalty in Germany occurred on June 26, 1981. It was done with a handgun fixed with a silencer. It occurred in the then Soviet satellite of East Germany.
Bathroom Bills Back In Pa As SB 1306 And SB 1307 — Public outcry stopped pending Pennsylvania legislation that would open ladies rooms and girls sports teams to men but the termites in Harrisburg never sleep and new bills were quickly introduced to catch the sane occupants of the Keystone State off guard.
So on June 10, SB 1306 and SB 1307 were introduced by Republican zealots that, like SB 974, would prohibit “sexual orientation, gender identity or expression” from discrimination in “public accommodations” like, well, public restrooms.
And school showers.
And school sports teams.
And it would add “sexual orientation” and “gender identity or expression” to the protected classes making it difficult for businesses to fire or discipline those describing themselves as gay or transgendered or whatever.
The prime sponsor of both bills is Sen. Pat Browne, a Republican who represents the 16th District which is in Lehigh County, and who is also the prime sponsor of SB 974.
Brown is being strongly backed by former conservative hero Scott Wagner, a Republican who represents the 28th district which is York County.
SB 1307 adds to the law the phrasing Public policies, reflecting an open and welcoming environment and ensuring equal opportunity, foster economic growth and prosperity which benefit the inhabitants of this Commonwealth. Conversely, the absence of nondiscrimination protections hinder efforts to recruit and retain the diversity of talented individuals and successful enterprises required for a thriving economy and strong public sector on which the inhabitants of this Commonwealth depend.
Sen. Wagner, are you saying that if a guy wearing fishnet stockings comes to you asking to drive one of your trash trucks, there is policy that now prevents you from hiring him?
This is not true.
Sen. Wagner, let this man drive your trash truck!
The only thing Senator that would now prevent you from hiring such a man is your own prejudices. Please don’t project them on to the rest of us.
Protected classes do not foster economic growth and prosperity. They hurt economic growth and prosperity. The goal should not be to expand them but to eliminate them.
A discussion of Wagner’s and Browne’s bizarre crusade can be found on this archived broadcast of It’s A New Day 1180 AM WFYL below:
