Turn The Light Off For ObamaCare, Inky Covers Tea-partyers


Turn the lights off for ObamaCare. If you don’t you may as well turn them off for the Democratic Party.

Today’s Philadelphia Inquirer reported that “Tea-party activists who oppose the legislation outnumbered supporters, with about 200 sign-wielding, slogan-shouting tea partyers attending a morning news conference before Obama arrived” regarding President Obama’s socialism sales pitch at  Arcadia (nee Beaver College) University, yesterday. The story, which ran on page B-1, included a large color photo of the tea-party protesters.

When the Inky stops covering for the left, the game is over.

Granted, they ran a puff-piece beneath it about how Obama’s supporters came out in force, but the treatment in totality was far from the Pavlovian salivating that  the paper gave us in its coverage of the Young Man from Wherever in the Summer of ’08.

Arcadia, btw, did not allow protesters on campus.

Arlen Specter Is Writing A Book

Sen. Arlen Specter (S for Specterite -Pa) is reportedly writing a book regarding his experiences in switching from the Republican Party to the Democrat Party.

Dems Pick Critz In Murtha Replacement Race

The state Democratic Party’s Executive Committee, today, picked 
Mark Critz as the party’s candidate to replace the late John Murtha to represent Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional District.

Critz had been Murtha’s district director. Also, seeking the nomination were former state Treasurer Barbara Hafer, Cambria County Controller Ed Cemic Jr. and former Naval Officer Ryan Bucchianeri.

The election will be  May 18, the day of the state primary.  The Republican nominee will be selected Thursday and be either Tim Burns or Bill Russell who opposed Murtha in 2008.

The winner will serve out the rest of Murtha’s term. An election will be held in November for a new term and there will also be a primary election May 18 to pick the candidates for the November race.

Bucchianeri and Ms. Hafer  say they will be primary candidates.

PoliticsPA.Com says the finally tally of the Executive Committee was Critz, 30; Hafer, 18; and Bucchianeri, 1.

Altmire May Switch To Yes On ObamaCare

Congressman Jason Altmire (D-Pa4) said in an interview on Fox News Sunday that he may vote in favor of the Obama Health-Care socialization bill.

Altmire was one of 39 Democrats to vote against the House version of the bill in November.

Sen John Cornyn (R-Texas) notes that once the House Dems vote for the Senate bill there is neither a guarantee nor a need for the reconciliation process should the President sign it into law.

A Step Forward For Laura Nachman

The lovely Laura Nachman of Havertown has expanded her profile by having the Delaware County Daily Times carry her excellent TV and radio blog.  Laura’s column is  the best source of news and gossip concerning the broadcast community of the Philadelphia area.

Congratulations Laura.

25% Fed Highway Money Not Used For Highways

25% Fed Highway Money Not Used For Highways — As we ponder how to fight global warming (ho ho ho),  become less dependent on foreign oil and get our economy back in gear consider that highway congestion costs us about $76 billion annually in wasted time and fuel, and the remember that our interstates are a bit behind in maintenance, according to Robert W. Poole, Jr., an M.I.T-trained engineer who directs transportation studies at Reason Foundation.

Washington taxes us 18.3 cents per gallon and there are those who would lead you to conclude that that is not enough since the maintenance shortfall is  between $60 and $90 billion per year and the federal Highway Trust Fund tasked to pay for the work is in the red, $8 billion so in 2008.

The Fund set up in 1956 was originally limited to caring for the interstates. It was eventually expanded to all roadways and, in 1982, began being used for urban transit. It now pays for things like sidewalks, bike trails and scenic routes. Basically, 25 percent of the highway money is used for things other than highways.

It may be that sidewalks, bike trails and urban transit are good things but they certainly should not be funded on a national level. While it is appropriate to ask a person in Florida to chip in for a road between New York and Erie (or a person in New York to ante up for one between Melbourne and Jacksonville), it is very wrong to force someone to buy sidewalks for somebody a thousand miles away.

If Americans were told that was what the Highway Trust Fund was going to do they would never have approved trusting their money with it.

25% Fed Highway Money Not Used For Highways

25% Fed Highway Money Not Used For Highways -- As we ponder how to fight global warming (ho ho ho),  become less dependent on foreign oil and get our

Karl Marx Has Answer For Looming Pa. Pension Pain

An unlikely source provides the solution to the looming fiscal crisis concerning the funding for pensions for retired Pennsylvania state workers and public school teachers which is expected to cause the tax burden to rise by $1,360 by 2012 for the average resident of the state.

Obviously, the money has been contracted and must be paid. So what to do?

Well the answer is ironically in the Communist Manifesto, the second plank of which calls for a heavy progressive income tax.

It’s simple. It’s beautiful.

Pensions, of course, are not taxed in Pennsylvania so here is how it would work:

–the first $50,000 of a public pension would remain untaxed.

–the next $50,000 would be taxed at 50 percent.

–anything above that would be taxed at 90 percent.

Let’s use the looming $313,000 pension of state Sen. Robert Mellow (D-22) as an example. There would be no tax on the first $50,000 so that means that Sen. Mellow would get $50,000 upon which to survive. He would then pay 50 percent of the next $50,000 back to the state adding $25,000 to yearly income for a total of $75,000. Of the remaining $213,000 he would pay back 90 percent leaving him with an additional $21,300 and an annual income of $96,300.

He could probably survive on that.

Who could object? Certainly not the bulk of pensioners who are retired teachers and consider themselves progressive and fully subscribe to the concept of “from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.”

Granted most of our legislators are simply greedy and not full-blown Marxists and would certainly provide an obstacle to reform but certainly not an insurmountable one.

And yes the average taxpayer would still see somewhat of an increase in his burden but a ray of hope has been found.

Pennsylvanians, Prepare For Serious Pension Pain


Pennsylvanians should prepare for some serious suffering regarding disposable income come 2012-2013 and the cause is going to be their additional contributions to pay for the pensions of retired  public school employees,state workers, legislators, judges and others.

The Commonwealth Foundation estimates that the annual hit will be $1,360 for the average taxpayer.

State EmployeeRetirement System (SERS) which handles non-school retirees is funded entirely by state taxes and the looming annual bite to handle the coming crunch for Mr. Average is expected to be $390.
 
The School Employee Retirement System (PSERS)  is 54 percent covered by state taxes with the rest coming from school district taxes. The Commonwealth Foundation estimates the average bite to come to about $970.

And what is going to be the result of the suffering? Well it means that Senator Robert Mellow (D-22) will be able to survive on a $313,000 annual pension. It kind of makes you feel warm and fuzzy.

Of course we can expect our public servants to be reasonable in helping resolve the crisis. Oh, ho ho ho. I just wrote that to make you smile and take your mind off the coming pain. Of course, we can’t expect that.

People, it’s time to start getting angry. 

If you need help, check out the salaries of those who work for the SERS and PSERS

Tenacious Rohrer Marches On


Most observers figure the GOP nomination for this year’s governor’s race has been wrapped up with a pretty bow on top for party-endorsed  Attorney General Tom Corbett  but by the slew of stops he has slated for  March, last-challenger-left Sam Rohrer seems determined to see them surprised.

Rohrer, the state representative for the 128th District, has 10 stops scheduled for the rest of this month including two today starting with  the Greater Philadelphia Candidates Forum where he is expected to face off against Corbett and Democrats Joe Hoeffel, Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato, state Auditor General Jack Wagner, and State Senator Anthony Williams, who represents the 191th District which consists of parts of Philadelphia and Yeadon in Delaware County.

He will then go to the Pizza Como Club in Pennsburg for an 8:30 p.m. event sponsored by the Upper Montgomery County Republican Club.

The Chamber forum is scheduled to be broadcast on PCN at 9 p.m.

Rohrer has a meeting scheduled in Delaware County, 7 p.m., March 26 at the Delaware County Christian School, 462 Malin Road, Newtown Square.

African-American Republican To Seek Gov. As Independent

Robert Allen Mansfield, a sergeant in the National Guard with service in Iraq, has announced he is dropping out of the May 18 Republican primary election to run for governor as an independent.

The state Republican committee voted overwhelmingly, last month, to endorse Attorney General Tom Corbett for the spot.

Still in the primary race is state Rep. Sam Rohrer (R-128)

Mansfield is an African-American from Philadelphia, born in 1971, whose heroine addicted mother put him up for adoption. He spent two years in foster care before being adopted by the Mansfield family.

He had a stormy youth in which he ran away from home several times. Things began to turn around in 1991, he says, when he accepted Jesus Christ into his life. He earned his GED and  joined the Guard in 1996.

While in the Guard he did odd jobs and began his own financial firm, R. Allen Associates.

He now lives in York.

For the independent run he will require 19,000 signatures rather than the 2,000 he got for the primary.

Here is a link to a biography and his positions.

They include a belief in smaller government, school choice, free markets, and that every child is a gift from God.

“I know that life begins at conception,” he says. “I don’t need to defer to a higher pay grade to come to that conclusion”