Lipstick On A Pig In Pa.

Rogers Howard’s  primary challenge to state Sen. Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R-9) has reaped a result. The  state’s Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) will now be called the Pennsylvania Economic Growth Initiative.

Crap by any other name will smell the same, though, as Shakespeare might say if he was a 21st century Pennsylvanian.
Howard consistently pointed out throughout the campaign that the program is basically a huge slush fund that benefits the solons we elected to lead us and their friends.
Howard noted that the RACP started in 1986 with a $400 million debt limit which has been raised five times until it hit $4.05 billion in 2011. He says this means that the politically connected groups and businesses got an average or $150 million per year over the last 27 years.
He said that Rep. Mike Turzai (R-28) has proposed cutting the debt limit to $1.65 billion over 20 years and that Gov. Tom Corbett has countered by proposing to cut the gifts to $125 million which would cut the debt limit to $3.37 billion in 27 years.
How about we just kill the program entirely and stop giving tax dollars to the businesses most adapt at politics?
“The bottom line is that PEGI, or RACP, is totally gratuitous debt piled onto the shoulders of future generations for the purpose of letting current government choose which private sector businesses will be encouraged and subsidized, and which will not,” said Howard. “We have seen the campaign donations of beneficiaries of RCAP and there is no reason to expect that such campaign donations will not continue apace under PEGI.”

Supreme Court Upholds Obamacare

So the Supreme Court by 5-4 vote has just upheld the individual mandate of Obamacare calling it a tax.

Granted the president and the Democrats who supported the law did not call it a tax when pushing it but the black robes just felt taking them at their word was not necessary.
So now they can look forward to answering new questions stemming from the 2,000-plus page law that no Democrat in Congress read before casting his or her vote.
I’m crawling over glass to vote for Mitt Romney this November and anyone else with an R next to his name.
Except maybe Bill Adolph who doesn’t seem all that hot in fighting this garbage.
By the way, it is being noted that it will likely be cheaper for corporations to pay the  $2,800 fine per employee than keep them on the company health plan. 
Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, joined Chief Justice John Roberts in upholding the mandate.
Justices Samuel Alito, Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas dissented. 

If Romney Panders, It’s Hasta La Vista Mitt!

Without a doubt, this presidential election will be close. 
Sure, some in fantasyland have already coronated Mitt Romney, predicting a November romp. But in reality, the race will come down to a few swing states where Hispanics will be a — and possibly the — crucial voting bloc.
As of now, Romney’s Latino support is abysmal, as he trails President Obama by over 40 points. 
Despite this, Mitt’s strategy is to pander to Latinos. Rather than addressing them as Americans instead of Hispanics, he thinks he can curry favor by acting as if he is in touch with “their” needs. Here’s a newsflash, Mitt: “their” needs are the same as everyone’s.
No mas, Senor Romney, por favor!

* * *
Maybe Mitt shouldn’t be catering to Hispanics at all.
If he really wants to become President, he should run as a proud and unapologetic Republican, speaking from the heart — in language to which voters can relate — to everyone, not placating specific audiences by telling them what they want to hear.  If Romney is to be successful, he must articulate why his Party offers the best solutions, not just for a brighter America, but a better life for all its citizens.
Most Americans have common interests, and share common problems. Who doesn’t want affordable health care, first-rate education, common sense immigration reform, and a booming economy? The candidates stand in stark contrast on these issues, with the President believing government knows bests, while Romney feels (theoretically, anyway) that individuals are most qualified to make decisions. 
America was founded by people pulling themselves up by their own bootstraps, where investing blood, sweat and tears was, and still is, richly rewarded.  Since the Republican Party is more closely aligned with that philosophy, Romney should have a leg up.  But rather than capitalizing on that advantage, he too often punts by trying to be all things to all people. And pandering to the Latinos is just the latest example.
Instead of trying to speak Spanish, pretending Florida Senator Marco Rubio may be his Veep choice, or eating at a Cuban restaurant, Romney should be explaining how the Republican Party offers real solutions to the problems all Americans face — Hispanics included.
Just as important, he needs to address his own Party’s failures the last time it held power, and do what his predecessors did not: lead by fostering competition and placing decision making power back where it belongs— with the people.  
* * *
Incomprehensibly, Romney refuses to answer whether he would repeal Obama’s executive order of halting deportations of undocumented young people who came to the U.S. before age 16.  In typical Romney fashion, Mitt has alienated all sides because he won’t commit to a position, let alone stick to it. 
As he is finding out, that’s not a problem with just the Latino community.  It’s a disaster with everyone.  Obama may not have delivered much Hope and Change, but voters will reward a politician for trying to make a difference versus one afraid to take a stand.
Since Romney’s campaign thus far has been more gaffe and flip-flop than substance, and Obama is sitting on a billion dollar war chest, Mitt will have to turn on his “A” game quickly. How? By aggressively making the case:
-That building a border wall to stop illegal aliens — and terrorists with possible WMDs — is in no way a racist or “disenfranchising” act, but a smart, common sense measure. Protecting the jobs, wages and security of citizens and legal immigrants alike is a policy most voters will find favorable.  Articulated correctly, upholding the rule of law and respecting legal immigrants who pursue the path to citizenship the right way, is a winner.  And he should dispel the myth that all voting Latinos oppose border walls, deportations, and illegal immigrant crackdowns, since, in many respects, that community stands the most to gain by backing compassionate but tough immigration reforms.
Note to Mitt: It would also help to point out that the United States opens its arms to more immigrants every year than every other country combined, and that a sound immigration policy benefits Hispanics, blacks, whites, women — in short, everyone.
-That government-mandated health insurance places bureaucrats in charge of life and death decisions, and that meaningful reform can only be achieved by allowing insurance to be bought across state lines (creating competition and slashing premiums), reducing the frivolous lawsuits favored by trial lawyers, and eliminating health care accounts with a “use it or lose it” policy. 
Note to Mitt: Everyone benefits from free market-oriented health care reform. 
-That the way to boost the economy is not by growing government and incurring more debt, but by reviving American manufacturing, made possible by having the world’s cheapest energy. Solution: responsibly open the planet’s largest oil and natural gas reserves, which happen to be in America. 
Note to Mitt: Everyone benefits from cheap domestic energy and a booming manufacturing economy.
-That the best way to optimize America’s productivity is by having the most educated workforce in the world. But since the U.S. ranks near the bottom in math, science, reading and literacy compared to its global competitors (despite record spending), Mitt needs to break the logjam in attaining educational excellence by instituting school choice, expanding charter schools, and allowing the private sector to have a greater role in educating our children — indeed our future.
Note to Mitt: Everyone benefits from improving America’s failing educational system.
* * *
It’s no secret that some of the poorest, least educated and unemployed segments of the population are within the Latino community.  Republicans who spew the same meaningless rhetoric at Hispanics, while failing to address these issues, look foolish and out-of-touch, since it is both patronizing and insulting.  And that is precisely why the GOP continues to see its standing with them plummet.
Should Romney break the mold, serious progress could be made. While he still wouldn’t win a majority in this election, he could at least stop the hemorrhaging.  Straight talk about how the Democratic Party sold out these folks long ago, takes them for granted in every election, and does not possess the vision necessary to lift them to greater heights, would prove infinitely more effective and pay huge dividends in the future.
Given the electoral power of the Latinos, will Romney do what it takes to win them over? 
If he doesn’t, it’s hasta la vista, Mitt!

People Whose Cars You Shouldn’t Steal

Kalvin Hulvey, 35, stole a 1997 Buick LeSabre belonging to Jeremy Penny in Tulsa, OK, according to police.

Penny, a 6-5, 240 pound rodeo worker, who was working in a field with his father saw him. Dad also does rodeo work. They hopped into a truck and gave chase rounding the little dogie up at an intersection. Penny pulled Hulvey from the car while Dad hog-tied him and suspended him from a fence where he hung until police arrived.
Hulvey who has convictions for burglary and drug possession was charged with larceny of a motor vehicle.

School Spending Doubled Since ’96

School Spending Doubled — Public school spending has risen 93.4 percent since 1996 in Pennsylvania.

Fallout Camden

Every now and then our region catches the eye of the world albeit usually not in the way we’d like.

The U.K. Daily Mail, yesterday, June 26, carried a story about Camden, N.J with the headline Camden, city of ruins: Depressing images of once-thriving metropolis reduced to decaying, crime-ridden rubble
And to think that it wasn’t that long ago I was making fun of Detroit.
Tip to video game makers: forget places like Las Vegas and Washington D.C., set the next Fallout game in Camden.
Democrats are to America like atom bombs are to Japan.

Beware Of Lyme Disease

Summer is the height of tick season, and residents are reminded to take precautions to avoid exposure to deer ticks, the carriers of Lyme disease, says State Rep. Jim Cox (R-129).
Those who spend a lot of time outdoors in grassy or wooded areas are advised to:
  • Wear long pants, long sleeves and socks while hiking, mowing the lawn or spending time in the woods or other tick habitat.
  • Spray tick repellant on shoes and clothing.
  • Check for ticks on the body after outdoor exposure.
Lyme disease often first appears as an inflamed red ring around the site of a tick bite, and if untreated can cause serious inflammation and pain that can greatly impact quality of life.

Advice For Catholics

Tea Party activist Bob Guzzardi says I think every Church bulletin should contain an ad “Catholic Business Owner. Why would you send your  money to Harrisburg when you could send it to a school where it can do some good.“

Couldn’t agree more, Bob.

Spanier Gets National Security Gig

Spanier Gets National Security Gig — Graham Spanier, the sexual adventurer who presided over Penn State for 16 years and thought it “humane” to refrain from reporting to police that one-time football assistant coach Jerry Sandusky was molesting children, appears to have been rehabilitated.

At least in the eyes of Washington.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that he was hired by the federal government in April for an “unspecified project in national security“

 

Spanier Gets National Security Gig

Will Mr. Smith Go To Washington?

Tom Smith, who may be the next senator from Pennsylvania, addressed and impressed the crowd at the breakfast meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition of Pennsylvania and Southern New Jersey this morning, June 25, at the Crowne Plaza on City Avenue.

Smith, an experienced businessman but a political neophyte, was the against-party-wishes winner of April’s Republican Primary to take on unpopular incumbent Bob Casey Jr.

Smith’s connection with the gathering was made when he told his life’s story and what motivated him to run.

Smith grew up on a farm in Armstrong County which is still his home today. The Elderton High School Class of ’65 graduate had to forego college to take care of it for his terminally ill father. After he married his high school sweetheart, Saundy, who had gone on to college to become a teacher, he worked the farm in the day and ran heavy machinery in a coal mine in the evenings. 

He worked this way for 11 years noting he was a member in good standing with United Mine Workers of America for a bit of that time and that he was going to enjoy their reaction when he started collecting a partial pension from them.

He went into the coal business for himself in the early ’80s. He described the difficulties he had in getting a loan and how he had to mortgage his home to get the capital to rent heavy equipment, which was by the month. 

He succeeded and expanded and reached the point where his companies employed 130 people and annually took more than a million tons of coal from the ground.

He sold the companies in 2010.

He and Saundy have seven children, six of whom are daughters, one of whom is in the Army Reserve.

And the children are why he is running.

Smith said that the Democrat-controlled Senate with the full compliance of Casey Jr. has failed to pass a budget for three years.

“Can you imagine a family going for 1,000 days without a budget?” he said.

He said that the present spending projections will soon have America’s deficit beyond its gross domestic product. 

“I can’t look young people in the eye knowing what my generation was responsible for,” he said.

Smith said his business experience makes him well aware of why things are not working.

“I have seen first hand what government regulation can do to an industry,” he said.

He noted that while his background is coal he has no objections to alternative energy, providing use of this energy does not impoverish the nation’s citizens.

Smith took questions from the audience and answered all directly.  He said the United States has an unbreakable bond with Israel and that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. He spoke of the dangers of a nuclear-armed Iran and while he would not take military force “off the table,” it would be the “court of last resort”.

He said he would work closely with Daniel Pipes of Middle East Forum, who was in attendance, to develop foreign policy.

“He’s going to become one of my best friends,” he said.

Smith was harshly critical of Obamacare and said he plans to tie Casey’s support to it every chance he gets even if it should be overturned by the Supreme Court.

He noted that he became well aware of the reasons for the expense of health care when providing it for his employees namely that it could only be purchased from a limited number of companies — four in his case; that he could not shop for it across state lines; and that he could not tailor polices to the needs and desires of his workers such as by leaving off coverage for acupuncture.

He also said tort reform was desperately needed.

Smith said he was optimistic about the race noting that he was down just seven points against a known incumbent and that incumbent has not managed to get above a 50 percent approval rating.

He said the state Republican organization is strongly backing him despite his primary victory over the party choice.

Smith was introduced by Bill Wanger who also noted that Joe Rooney, candidate for the 14th Congressional District; Robert Mansfield, candidate for the 2nd Congressional District; and Charles Gehret, candidate for State Senate District 17 were in attendance.