News, Entertainment, Enlightenment
The Pennsylvania Senate State Government Committee, this morning, June 26, passed its version of paycheck protection 7-4 reports Matt Brouillette of Commonwealth Foundation.
The Senate bill is SB 1034.
The House State Government Committee passed its version, HB 1507, on Monday.
The bills would end the taxpayer-funded collection of government union political money.
You may recall that when the IRS political-persecution scandal first started to become public, the agency’s story was that the trouble was the result of the misguided, overly enthusiastic actions of a few obscure yokels in Cincinnati. That turned out to be a lie, as we all know. But the IRS made a similar case successfully in the matter of its criminal disclosure of the confidential tax records of the National Organization for Marriage, whose donor lists were leaked to left-wing activists in order to use them against the Romney campaign. The IRS admitted that an employee leaked the information, but said it was an accident, that it involved only a single employee making a single error, etc., and the court agreed that NOM could not show that the leak was the result of malice or gross negligence.
Truly, the IRS must be the unluckiest agency in the history of the federal government. Oops! It’s leaking confidential taxpayer information to political activists. D’oh! It’s improperly and illegally targeting conservative organizations for harassment and investigation and misleading Congress, investigators, and the public about the scope and scale of that wrongdoing. Dang! It cannot produce the emails that investigators have demanded as part of the inquiry into its actions. Rats! Its employees are openly campaigning for Barack Obama’s reelection while on the IRS’s clock, using IRS resources, and holding taxpayers hostage. And, who could have seen it coming? The IRS violated the Federal Records Act by refusing to archive relevant documents. With a string of bad luck like that, sure, accidentally releasing NOM’s confidential taxpayer information to left-wing activists seems right at home.
That these events represent an unconnected string of unfortunate events — all of which just so happen to benefit the Left and its IRS allies while hurting conservatives and IRS critics — beggars belief. Add to that mix the willful dishonesty, the staged press rollout, complete with planted questions, intended to preempt questions about the internal investigation and its results, the naked lie that the wrongdoing was limited to a few nobodies in Cincinnati — the only way to believe that story is to desire very deeply to believe it.
The alternative and much more likely — undeniable, to my mind — explanation is that the Internal Revenue Service is engaged in an active and ongoing criminal conspiracy to misappropriate federal resources for political purposes, to use its investigatory powers, including the threat of criminal prosecution, for purposes of political repression, and to actively mislead Congress and the public about the issue; that the Justice Department is turning a blind eye to these very serious crimes for political purposes and is therefore complicit in the cover-up; that these crimes were encouraged if not outright suborned by Senate Democrats; and that the White House is at the very least passively complicit, refusing to lift so much as a presidential pinkie as the IRS runs amok.
And, apparently, there’s nobody in Washington with the power and the inclination to do anything about it.
Mr. Williamson, who now writes for National Review, was once the editor of the Ardmore Pa. -based Main Line Times
Regina Scheerer of Springfield reports that she and her husband went to the local premiere of Dinesh D’Souza’s America: Imagine a World Without Her and recommends all to see it.
It opens July 2 at the Regal Plymouth Meeting 10 in Conshohocken and at the United Artists Stadium 16 in King of Prussia.
A bill to make it easier to renew coverage in the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) was unanimously passed by the Pennsylvania House Insurance Committee June 9 and is now before the Rules Committee, reports State Rep. Jim Cox (R-129).
House Bill 2299 would create a simple form sent directly to the parent or guardian to confirm the information remains accurate or to allow for changes, if necessary. This would allow for easier renewal of the child’s annual enrollment in the program.
The bill would also allow for “express lane eligibility” which would provide parents with information on CHIP, using information obtained through other state agencies including the departments of Public Welfare and Health.
“Many of the provisions in the legislation are already being done but need to be written into law to ensure they continue in the future,” Cox said.
With the Democrats running things for the first time in a generation, the pre-Giuliani problems of New York City have returned.
The New York Post is reporting that the Big Apple’s rat population is now twice that of the 8.4 million humans.
Mostly on the West Side it seems.
So are there bedbugs Uptown? Um, yes.
For those feeling nostalgic and for the young unaware of what life was like when progressives ran everything, we bring you this snippet of New York City life circa 1978 courtesy of The Rolling Stones
If the Rolling Stones are not your taste, here is Michael Jackson’s first solo hit which was a #1 in 1972.
Welcome again to the 1970s.
HB 43, an amendment to the Pennsylvania Volunteer Health Services Act, was “signed in House” June 18 after unanimously passing the state House and Senate.
The amendment allows Pennsylvania psychologists, psychiatrists and counselors to volunteer to provide free mental health services to military personnel and their families outside a clinic through approved programs such as “Give an Hour”, says State Rep. Jim Cox (R-129)
Programs like Give an Hour provide free services, such as family counseling and substance abuse counseling, at a site that is likely outside a clinical setting such as a library, community center or church.
The push by the wannabee lords and ladies to disenfranchise the citizens of Pennsylvania continues.
Jack Nagel, a professor emeritus of political science at Penn, has a guest view in today’s (June 25) Philadelphia Inquirer about how the unicorns will play and the rainbows will shine if the size of our legislature is shrunk as per the proposed constitutional amendment passed by the State House that is pending before the State Senate, or –better yet in his view — have the entire legislature turned into a unicameral body with proportional representation like a European parliament
The Amendment on the table while not turning our legislature into a total highway to central government control as per Nagel’s wish will cut the size of Pennsylvania’s House from 203 to 153 and the size of the Senate from 50 to 45 (the Senate’s preference) or 38 (the House’s preference).
The argument being made is that it will save money as our legislators draw a base salary of $84,012, which is second highest in the nation behind corrupt California.
OK, help me out here. If we were trying to save money wouldn’t it be better to cut the salary by 25 percent rather than the number of representatives by 25 percent?
Even better yet, how about we cut the salaries to $7,500 — which is what Texas legislators get — and leave the size as is? That would be a 91 percent savings. Texas by all accounts is doing pretty well.
Or how about this: we cut the salaries of the legislators to $7,500 — and end all benefits — and expand the number of senators to 67 with each county getting its own senator.
That way Anthony Williams won’t have to represent Philadelphia and Delaware counties.
The Supreme Court ruled, today, June 25, that Aereo Inc. was violating the copyrights of broadcasters in providing its service.
Aereo had developed a technology to allow persons to watch over-the-air television broadcasts on their computers.
The broadcasters led by ABC said no fair.
The ruling, written by Stephen Breyer, was 6-3 with Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Anthony Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan joining him.
The dissent, written by Justice Antonin Scalia and joined by Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, was not so much in sympathy with Aereo but noted that the technical claim made by the networks in the lower courts — namely that Aereo was the primary abuser of copyright which means actually using copyrighted work — was incorrect.
They recommended that the case be returned to the lower courts and appeared to have an expectation that Aereo would be found in violation of “secondary liability” which means that they would be responsible for infringement by third parties.
The danger of ignoring the reasoning in the dissent means that it creates the possibility of new claims against internet service providers and such that previously had an expectation of immunity.
This rather accurate off-the-internet Canadian itemization of American stupidity is attributed to Arnold H. Pelofsky, PhD.
Number 10 — Only in America …could politicians talk about the greed of the rich at a $35,000.00 per plate campaign fund-raising event.
Number 9 — Only in America ..could people claim that the government still discriminates against black Americans when they have a black President, a black Attorney General and roughly 20% of the federal workforce is black while only 14% of the population is black. And 40+% of all federal entitlements goes to black Americans – 3X the rate that go to whites, 5X the rate that go to Hispanics!
Number 8 — Only in America…could they have had the two people most responsible for our tax code, Timothy Geithner (the head of the Treasury Department) and Charles Rangel (who once ran the Ways and Means Committee), BOTH turn out to be tax cheats who are in favor of higher taxes.
Number 7 — Only in America..can they have terrorists kill people in the name of Allah and have the media primarily react by fretting that Muslims might be harmed by the backlash.
Number 6 — Only in America..would they make people who want to legally become American citizens wait for years in their home countries and pay tens of thousands of dollars for the privilege, while they discuss letting anyone who sneaks into the country illegally just ‘magically’ become American citizens (probably should be number one).
Number 5 — Only in America ….could the people who believe in balancing the budget and sticking by the country’s Constitution be thought of as “extremist”.
Number 4 — Only in America ..could you need to present a driver’s license to cash a check or buy alcohol, but not to vote. THIS one is a real joke!
Number 3 — Only in America ..could people demand the government investigate whether oil companies are gouging the public because the price of gas went up when the return on equity invested in a major U.S. Oil company (Marathon Oil) is less than half of a company making tennis shoes (Nike).
Number 2 — Only in America could a country collect more tax dollars from the people than any nation in recorded history, still spend a Trillion dollars more than it has per year (for total spending of $7-Million PER MINUTE), and complain that it doesn’t have nearly enough money.
And Number 1 — Only in America could the rich people (who pay 86% of all income taxes) be accused of not paying their “fair share” by people who don’t pay any income taxes at all.
Chef Bill Sr. recently put to use some leftover grits to create hillbilly bruschetta, which as far as we know is an original dish.
Chef Bill would be the first to tell you it is not as good as the traditional way. On the other hand, why let good grits go to waste?
And it is a fun and tasty meal.
Here’s the recipe, which — if you cook the grits just for this — makes about two dozen. Really though, it’s best to be used for leftovers:
3 cups water
1 cup uncooked stone-ground white grits
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Cooking spray
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
3/4 cup sliced cherry tomatoes
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup chopped red or green sweet pepper
1/2 cup sliced green olives
1/2 cup sliced black olives
Combine water, grits, and salt in a medium, heavy saucepan. Bring it to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, 30 minutes or until grits are very thick, stirring often.
Remove the grits from the heat, and stir in Parmesan cheese, garlic powder, and pepper. Pour out onto a flat baking sheet and spread to about 3/8-inch thickness (10-inch square). Allow to cool completely (about 1 hour in a refrigerator) so that the mixture is firm to the touch.
Cut the grits into 2-inch squares. Place them on a skillet coated with cooking spray; brush with a tablespoon olive oil and grill at medium heat until golden brown, which should be about 15 minutes. Flip the squares over, and brush other sides with remaining olive oil and put on the tomatoes, olives and bell pepper slices. Fry for about 10 more minutes. Remove, cool and eat.