Pennsylvania Agriculture, Tourism Industries Examined

Pennsylvania Agriculture, Tourism Industries Examined — Members of the House Appropriations Committee held two public hearings in Gettysburg last week to focus on two of Pennsylvania’s leading industries – agriculture and tourism, reports State Rep. Jim Cox (R-129).

The first hearing examined the impact of tourism on the state’s economy. Tourism is a $39 billion industry in Pennsylvania that generates $3.8 billion in tax revenue and supports more than 450,000 jobs.

The committee also addressed what state government can do to further leverage state tourism spending to support economic growth and development. It is estimated that for every dollar the state spends on tourism promotion, it receives a $267 return on that investment.

The second hearing focused on agriculture, the state’s top industry. With $5.7 billion in cash receipts annually from production agriculture, Pennsylvania farmers and agribusinesses are the leading economic driver in our state.

In addition to production agriculture, the industry also raises revenue and supplies jobs through support services such as food processing, marketing, transportation and farm equipment. In total, production agriculture and agribusiness contributes nearly $57 billion to Pennsylvania’s economy.

Facebook Tips You Can Use

Facebook Tips You Can UseFacebook Tips You Can Use — Some Facebook news you can use for those who want to keep their lives quasi-private on Facebook courtesy of Cathy Martin

You may or may not know that Facebook has changed its privacy configuration once again.

Thanks to the new “Graphic app”, any person on FB anywhere in the world can see our photos, our “likes” and our “comments”.

I ask you to do the following and comment “DONE”. I want to be able to publish photos of my friends and family without strangers being able to see them, which is what happens now when you choose “like” or “comment”.

Unfortunately we cannot change this configuration because FB has made it like this.

1. So, please, place your cursor over my photo that appears in this box (without clicking) and a window will open.

2. Now move the cursor to the word “Friends”, again without clicking and then click on “Settings”.

3. Un-check “Life Events” and “Comments and Like” and “photos”. This way my activity with my family and friends will be available to you but no longer be made public.

 

Facebook Tips You Can Use
 

Senator Chris Murphy Had To Work Last Night

Senator Chris Murphy — the Gen Xer Democrat who represents  Connecticut — was upset last night because he had to take part of the night shift for Ted Cruz’s filibuster of ObamaCare and tweeted such. Senator Chris Murphy Had To Work Last Night

“Walking into Capitol to take 11-1 shift presiding over the Senate for this pointless fairy tale non-filibuster,” the hero of white wine drinking, gated-community dwellers wrote.

Check out the responses to it.

And really Senator, since you love ObamaCare so much why aren’t you and your staff getting it?

Senator Chris Murphy Had To Work Last Night

Redneck Fish Story

Redneck Fish Story courtesy of Cathy Martin

A redneck with a bucket full of live fish, was approached recently by a game warden in Texas as he started to drive his boat away from a lake. The game warden asked the man, “May I see your fishing license please?” “Naw, sir,” replied the redneck. “I don’t need none of them there papers. These here are my pet fish.” Redneck Fish Story

“Pet fish!?!?”

“Yep. Once a week, I bring these here fish o’mine down to the lake and let ’em swim ’round for a while. Then when I whistle, they swim right back into my net and I take ’em home.”

“What a line of baloney….you’re under arrest.”

The redneck said, “It’s the truth, Mr. Gov’ment man. I’ll show ya! We do this all the time!!”

“WE do, now, do WE?” smirked the warden. “PROVE it!”

The redneck released the fish into the lake and stood and waited. After a few minutes, the warden said, “Well?”

“Well, WHUT?” said the redneck.

The warden asked, “When are you going to call em back?”

“Call who back?”

“The FISH,” replied the warden!

“Whut fish?” asked the redneck.

MORAL OF THE STORY: We may not be as smart as some city slickers, but we ain’t as dumb as some government employees.

Redneck Fish Story

WTF CAIR

WTF CAIR — The Council on American Islamic Relations or CAIR has changed its name to World Trust Foundation Inc. WTF CAIR

WTF?

Really.

CAIR became notorious for its  close connections to the Holy Land Foundation which was revealed to be sending the money raised for it to terrorist organizations namely Hamas; and for its attempts to silence critics in the United States, even in Springfield, Delaware County, Pa.

CAIR’s attempts to manipulate Pennsylvania”s Human Relations Commission is the subject of an award winning article by Hillel Zaremba of the Philadelphia-based Middle East Forum.

Hat tip Stephen Kruiser at PJMedia.com

WTF CAIR

 

Prevailing Wage Reform Hearings Continue

Prevailing Wage Reform Hearings Continue — The Pennsylvania House Labor and Industry Committee met in Johnstown last week to conduct the third in a series of hearings to discuss updates to Pennsylvania’s outdated Prevailing Wage Act, reports State Rep. Jim Cox (R-129)

The law with its origins in racism cost Pennsylvania taxpayers $1 billion per year according to Commonwealth Foundation. Get rid of this and we can stop talking about 20 cents per gallon gas tax hikes.

Testifiers at last week’s hearings ncluded township managers, supervisors, a county commissioner, a city manager and union officials. Pennsylvania’s Prevailing Wage Act requires municipalities and school districts to pay the “prevailing minimum wage” to those individuals working on public construction projects without specifying how the wage is determined, often resulting in inflated public project costs for municipalities. The act has not been updated since 1963.

An additional hearing on the issue is scheduled for Lycoming County on Sept. 26.

Will Iran’s Charm Offensive Fool Obama?

By Keith Phucas

The real moment of truth for the Obama administration may come next week when Iranian President Hassan Rouhani flies to the U.S. in hopes of cutting a favorable deal on Iran’s nuclear program.

Will the U.S. continue to support punitive measures against Iran for its nuclear development or soften its position?

Numerous economic sanctions have been imposed on Iran since 2006 for continuing with its nuclear development and not allowing inspectors to verify all of the country’s nuclear activities. The regime insists its program is strictly for its energy needs.

The sanctions, imposed by United Nations Security Council resolutions, have significantly cut Iran’s oil exports and isolated the country from international banking systems, and the country is seeking relief from the crippling measures.

Yet, Iran continues enriching uranium in “clear contravention” of U.N. resolutions, according to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Yukiyo Amano. And, if the regime is able eventually to produce highly-enriched uranium, that fissile material would be ideal for nuclear warheads.

Given Tehran’s hostility toward Israel and Iran’s insistence on forging ahead with its nuclear plans, Israel signaled several years back that it might attack Iran’s nuclear sites.

Recently it was revealed Rouhani and President Obama have exchanged letters that the new Iranian leader described as “positive and constructive.”

The U.N. Security Council meets next week. And after witnessing the U.S. president’s Syria Shuffle — first threatening to attack Syria for using chemical weapons, then backing down — the Iranian leadership sensed a fresh opportunity to negotiate with the U.S. over Iran’s nuclear program and launched a so-called “charm offensive.”

Read more about Iran’s Charm Offensive at Keith Phucas’ Delco Conservative

State House Reopens

Members of the Pennsylvania House return to the Capitol, today, Sept. 23, for fall session, says State Rep. Jim Cox (R-129).

Several important issues will be on the agenda, including pro-jobs measures and pension reform. In addition, lawmakers will continue to work to identify funding for much-needed repairs to the state’s transportation infrastructure, while also working to ensure any plan does not substantially increase the burden for taxpayers.

Autumn 2013 Starts Now

Autumn 2013 Starts Now

It is 4:44 p.m. EDT, Sept. 22  according to our post scheduler and, just as it was back on March 20, the tilt of the Earth’s axis is neither away from or towards the Sun.

In other words, autumn has begun.

“Autumn” comes from the Old French word automne which comes from the Latin word autumnus which possibly comes a Etruscan word.

Before autumn came into popular use in the 16th century to describe the season– as did the word fall  as in falling leaves — the English called it Harvest.

When fall was a popular term, immigration to America was picking up and that word was brought to this side of the Atlantic. It became the more common name for this time of year remains so. The term is now obsolete in Britain, however.

The Brits, by the way, consider autumn to be from August to October whereas we consider it from September to November — or December for those of us who are technical minded.

Autumn 2013 Starts Now

M.I.T Prof Calls Global Warming Religion

Today’s link is from The Daily Caller and features Dr. Richard Lindzen, who is an atmospherics physicist and the Alford P. Sloan Professor of Meteorology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, calling global warming a religion — and a destructive one at that.

“Global Warming has become a religion,” wrote Lindzen, in the fall 2013  issue of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons. “A surprisinglylarge number of people seem to have concluded that all that gives meaning to their lives is the belief that they are saving the planet by paying attention to their carbon footprint.”

Lindzen also says “Global climate alarmism has been costly to society, and it has the potential to be vastly more costly. It has also been damaging to science, as scientists adjust both data and even theory to accommodate politically correct positions,”

Visit BillLawrenceDittos.com for another story on M.I.T. Prof Calls Global Warming Religion