Posts in month: May, 2010

Yesterday, Israel attacked a Turkish relief vessel, the MV Blue Mamara, bound to the Gaza strip, killing at least sixteen and wounding dozens.  This occurred in international waters, and it’s an attack on a vessel of a NATO nation.  The boat carried peace activists, among them a Nobel Peace Laureate, bringing humanitarian and medical supplies to Gaza.  The reason this is needed for Gaza is because the Israelis blocked off sea access to Gaza and routinely cut off access to necessities including utilities (electricity, water, etc.) whenever violence flares up, effectively punishing the entire populace rather than targeting the real problem.  Three Israeli war vessels, helicopters, and multiple unarmed aerial drones shadowed the boat before commandoes bordered and attacked.  The people murdered by Israeli armed forces were a combination of humanitarians and peace activists.  Nothing spells good PR like murdering peace activists.

Israel initially said that nobody was killed, but when it became obvious that they were lying, given reports from those onboard, it instead claimed that their soldiers were attacked by the peace activists, and so retaliated with violent force.  Eyewitness accounts, however, directly contradict this – those onboard said the soldiers started shooting as soon as their feet hit the deck and even murdered sleeping passengers.

Even if Israel’s claim that they were attacked with “sticks and knives” (they actually said this), that does not justify their response.  Israel attacked and boarded a ship in international waters.  What if those aboard were actually defending themselves from, you know, an armed assault?  I don’t see how this can look justified.

This whole thing could spell trouble on many fronts, but something tells me nobody will do anything serious about it.

Israel has treated the Palestinians with nothing but cruelty.  Everybody handles Israel with kid gloves.  I support their right to exist, as opposed to prominent Middle Eastern leaders of countries like Iran.  I do not support their right to systematically dehumanize an entire race.  From various UN sources:  As a result of Israeli blockades, alternately referred to as a “siege,” the Gaza economy has collapsed, resulting in extreme poverty and high unemployment, 61% of Gaza residents are “food insecure” which is a fancy way of saying they are starving, the ability of refugees to purchase food and medical supplies has evaporated, anemia in babies is at 65.5%, water resources are minimal and insufficient, and the destruction of homes by Israel has led to massive homelessness.

And this is okay?

When you think “terrorist attacks” you picture disgruntled Arab-types, right?  Who has been the greater victim of terrorism in Israel?

While Palestinians resorting to violence and terrorism to fight Israel is not the answer, one could certainly see why it occurs.

When Israel was formed by the UN, people already lived there.  Those people, the Palestinians, were all forcibly removed.  Some live in Lebanon in refugee camps (which contributed to the Civil War there), some are in Jordan, and some are in Gaza and the West Bank.  A people with a nation had it wrested from them and given to another people, hence multiple wars in the Middle East (like the Arab-Israeli War, etc.).  What happened, happened, and I’m more interested now in seeing both peoples share land and get along.  But I’m an American, our country is full of different ethnic groups who came together to forge a single nation.  My perspective is different.  There, Israelis and Palestinians aren’t too interested in getting along: Israelis because they want a country of their own, and Palestinians because they want back the land they had taken from them.

America has enabled Israel to treat the Palestinians this way since Israel came into existence.  Israel’s military is superb – thanks to the USA.  Israel has plenty of money to afford this military – thanks to the USA.

We have some measure of responsibility for what goes on there, and I hope that after this massacre of peace activists in international waters is punished.  At the least, Israel’s Prime Minister has cancelled a meeting with the White House.  The Internet was abuzz with people calling for this meeting to be cancelled, so maybe that’s some success there.  I am anxiously awaiting Obama’s response to this.

In the meantime, protests are being organized outside Israeli embassies around the world.  Most governments have condemned Israel’s actions in Gaza before this crisis, and I’m sure this massacre of peace activists won’t endear Israel to the rest of the world much more.

The title of this post may be boring to some, but Scranton, a microcosm of dying, post-industrial mid-sized cities across the country, is at an interesting place when it comes to media engagement.  An overarching question, sometimes addressed here, is this:  How informed are we?

We have one newspaper with a near-monopoly, the Scranton Times, and the Times Leader is now a weekly struggling to survive.  Internet message boards and blogs are around, but not nearly as influential, obviously, as the newspaper.  WYOU stopped its newscast and we’re now left with WBRE and WNEP.  We have Electric City TV, which has struggled to get going, and WVIA, which has had its funding slashed to hell.  Libraries have also suffered from cuts, but remain a bastion of information, particularly for the middle and lower classes.  Finally, we have radio, which WILK dominates in terms of analysis and, minimally, news.  Most of these facets of the local media landscape were represented at an event I was recently asked to attend.

The New America Foundation, a DC Think Tank, invited me to participate in a roundtable discussion at the Schemel Forum at the University of Scranton, the topic of which would be the health of Scranton’s information community.  I came for two reasons, as a blogger, I have a small place in the information community, and as a teacher, I am responsible for helping forge what I like to think of as “informed readers” or in the case of media, at times, “informed viewers.”

A lot of fascinating information came to light during this roundtable, and as both a teacher and blogger, I learned and left with a pretty hefty perspective change.  I had a revelation, actually.  The way I defined “news” isn’t what “news” should actually be.  What I mean by that is, one panelist pointed out that newspapers, TV stations, and radio all focus on three major news stories:  fire, accidents, and crime.  I always thought that was news, but not quite.  Why?  Because that’s merely reporting, it’s not investigating.  News organizations rarely investigate any longer.

Take, for example, the corruption probes in Luzerne and Lackawanna Counties.  Law enforcement has been the principal source for information on local political corruption.  Since it had been going on for years, however, why didn’t any news organizations actually investigate on their own and break these stories?  There are quite a few depressing answers to this.

Let’s take a look at each of the mediums:

• The Scranton Times, mirroring newspapers across the country, cut staff last year.  Chris Kelly and Borys are political analysts, rather than investigative reporters.  Money and time are the issue here.  It takes time and money to do investigative reporting, and making phone calls to politicians and reporting what they said doesn’t quite make the cut.
• WYOU and WBRE entered a news alliance with the Scranton Times a few years back, which effectively destroyed the reason for existence of one of these organizations.  WYOU got the axe.  Duplicate reporting is a waste.  In addition, reporters going “under cover” to find the big story is a thing of the past.  Again, time and money.
• WILK serves as analysis and commentary, rather than investigative reporting.  As one roundtabler (I like that better than “participant”) noted, years ago, most local radio stations had newscasts.  Not so much anymore.
• Blogs, as in my case, do not have the manpower or resources (read time and money) to investigate.  Sure, I do my Right-to -Know requests and read laws and budgets and all of that, but it’s next to impossible for blogs to function as news organizations unless you’ve got the size of DailyKos or the Huffington Post.  That brings in the revenue necessary to actually do the real, intrepid reporting.
• WVIA, which, if properly funded, could do in-depth pieces, cannot.  Their funding was cut.  They have the time, they don’t have the profit motive (which discourages them from being sensational), but the state didn’t care enough to properly fund it.  Another loss for the area.

Fire, accidents, and crime are all sensational reporting, something that people will consume.  It’s “shock journalism” as one roundtabler said.  It sells papers, it attracts viewers, and it brings in the ad revenue.  It also dulls the electorate.  Less information simply means people are less informed.

There are more newscasts and less news.  Papers, TV, and radio all regurgitate similar stories, or fill their respective mediums with wire reports written by other entities.  During any given scan of all three of these information-sharers, a repeat of information is inevitable.  They exist redundantly, the only difference is delivery.

Part of the conversation turned to creating an informed society, and I regret not chiming in here.  A local state representative’s representative indicated that the legislature had increased educational funding.  This is misleading.  More money doesn’t make education better.  In fact, all the technology that gets thrown into classrooms doesn’t matter.  What matters, and what’s totally missing from classrooms these days, is critical thinking.  Instead, it’s all about meeting standards, teaching to the test, reaching state and federal achievement goals, and preparing students for the workforce.  That last may sound productive, but jamming a computer in a student’s face may help them at a job one day while totally failing to prepare the student for life.

The crux of this roundtable involved the health of the information community, which I take to mean the availability of information and the ability of the community to assess and comprehend it.  Information is readily available on the Internet, sure, but news has devolved.  In America, we spend, I believe, about $1.85 per capita on public television.  In the UK, it’s $80.00.  Public programming is free from the constraints of the profit motive, which influences the way the Times works, the way WILK works, the way every news organization works.  The bottom line is money, and news takes a back seat of you can’t be fiscally solvent.  It’s the “news” that organizations choose to include that will determine viability.  As such, that car accident on the front page will sell more papers and cost less to “investigate” and write up than, say, spending a month doing a hardcore investigation of bribery in Luzerne County.  I’m sure there’s more to the story than what we’ve heard, but news is a risk/reward game.  The risk here is money, the reward is viewership, which translates to easier money.

I’m sure you’re picking up on my theme here, so I’ll move on.

More important to me, actually, is what I mentioned earlier: the informed viewer.  Education is key, and education is deeply flawed.  Critical thinking skills are simply not the focus and our society will suffer for it.  Students seem to assume that any information that’s printed, either in a paper or on the Internet, is factual.  There is no ability to evaluate agenda, or bias, or perspective.  There are also no questions on the PSSA or SAT that test that ability.  As a result, schools don’t focus on it.  I’ve encountered students, and now former students who are adults, who think linking to one article will validate a position or belief.  There are too many “black and white” members of society when, as the “informed viewer” might discern, the issues are often varying shades of gray.  Understanding the complexity of an issue requires critical thinking skills that media darlings like Sarah Palin blatantly and proudly lack.  I mention her not as a pot-shot, but as an example.  She is part of that “shock journalism” to which I referred.  What will she say next and when can I get it on the broadcast?  She considered Katie Couric’s question about what newspapers she read to be “gotcha journalism”.  First off, that’s such a dull question, it isn’t journalism, but what’s worse, what’s far, far worse, is that Palin couldn’t name a single one.  So this already-flawed system of news delivery is totally ignored by a prominent figure who then blames the media for making a fool of her when, in fact, she made a fool of herself.  These are the supposed “paragons” of our society.

So how do we create an informed electorate?  I believe the answer is, in part, to reform the education system.  I also believe we need to generously fund public access television and guarantee funding so that politicians can’t retaliate if they don’t like programming.  Freeing media from the necessity of spectacle will raise the level of discourse.  I am fully confident that if the media raised the bar, society would follow suit.

Today’s Roderick Random column brought up an interesting point: That Democrats have a registration advantage and Republicans have an enthusiasm/turnout advantage in Pennsylvania elections.  Oops!  That’s not the interesting point.  What caught my eye was this statement: “Pennsylvania may turn from blue to purple this year, if not outright red.”

Words like “may” are always ambiguous.  And swinging from a blue state, where Obama won by 10 points, to a red state is simply unrealistic.

Frankly, Onorato has a good chance against Corbett and I think this is the first time in 50 years we may be able to break the gubernatorial cycle of 8 Republican years and 8 Democratic years.

I also think Sestak has a very good chance to beat Toomey.

Why?

As Random Borys points out, Democrats have about a 1.2 million voter registration advantage over Republicans.  The Random argument is that turnout will be so low, particularly in Democrat-rich Philadelphia, that Republicans “may” win.

I’m not so sure.  Polls tracking voter intensity have actually showed Republican enthusiasm going down while Democratic enthusiasm is going up.  If that trend continues and voters get more reasons to show up, then PA will stay true blue.  The reasons for Democratic enthusiasm are many: we passed health care, the economy is actually growing, and Republicans have still not produced a single reason to vote for them except to say that they aren’t Democrats.  Republicans are losing enthusiasm because constant GOP attempts to derail legislation have not worked.

Not only that, but the national climate isn’t pretty.  Drill, baby, drill has been disproven and made to look farcical and dangerous.  And Republicans are defending the corporations.  Rand Paul in Kentucky and the entire state of Arizona have been pushing (and enacting) crazy ideas that just don’t go along with the mainstream of the country.  Sorry, we like the Civil Rights Act.  And civil rights.  Tie Pat Toomey to that (which won’t be tough), and Republican prospects will dim.

On the gubernatorial front, Tom Corbett has very publicly been excoriated over his absurdly totalitarian behavior toward critics.  Head over to CasablancaPA.com for all the updates.

If he keeps acting like this, it’ll keep showing up in the newspapers and blogs and he’ll keep looking terrible.  And Onorato will keep reminding people about it.  And Corbett won’t do so well.  As of the last poll I checked on the Gov race, Onorato was only behind 6 points.  That’s not bad for somebody who was virtually unknown two months ago.  He has all summer and the entire fall to deploy that massive war chest he’s got.

I’m thinking Pennsylvania will stay nice and blue.

Rarely do I break out the “More On” title, but I figured it’s appropriate in this instance.  (Get it, “More On” sounds like “moron”?  Yes, yes, 4 years of studying English literature and that’s what homonymic mastery means.)

Joe Sestak, a few months back, let people know that a representative from the White House contacted him and offered him a job if he stayed in the House of Representatives, rather than running for Senate against Arlen Specter.  The key here is that this happened months ago.

Where were the Republicans screaming about controversy?

Dead silent.

Why?  Because they are selective offense-takers.  When Bill Clinton had an affair, Republicans were all over it.  When Republicans have affairs (which comes out at least once a month, per chamber), we don’t here much of anything.  Selective offense-taking.

The reason this is now an issue isn’t so much to embarrass Obama, since he didn’t actually do anything, it’s to make Sestak look bad so that Pat Toomey looks good.  This serves as a total distraction from Pat Toomey’s total right-wingerness.  Pennsylvanians overwhelmingly voted Rick Santorum out of office.  Toomey is far more conservative, and Pennsylvanians will follow suit.  Polling has put Toomey and Sestak close, but the Democratic registration advantage, plus the upcoming campaign, will likely result in Sestak jumping pretty far ahead.

But if Republicans can find an issue to tarnish Sestak, they’ll stick to it.  Sestak got a call from Clinton with an advisory job offer.  Sestak said no.  Clinton said good luck.  Done deal.  One commenter called this an “impeachable offense” but I’m not sure how this even comes remotely close to impeachable, or even criminal.  That’s something Republicans haven’t been able to explain.  Explanation, though, isn’t there point.  Smearing is.  Throwing mud and hoping something sticks is the Republican way.

And seriously folks, why would Republicans be criticizing a job offer in this kind of economic climate?  They must be socialist-communist-Nazi-fascists!

Currently, Sestak leads Toomey by 3 points in the most recent R2K survey.  Feel free to visit www.toomeyfacts.com to learn about the horror that is Pat Toomey so we can widen that gap.

If this race ever turns to the issues, then Toomey will be exposed for what he is and Pennsylvania will get a decent man, Joe Sestak, to represent them.

As readers know, I have some issues with Paul Kanjorski, and did not vote for him in the primary.  I thought that Teabagger Brian Kelly wouldn’t do very well and Corey O’Brien would take the anti-Kanjo vote.  I was horrifically wrong.  Oh, yes, there is an anti-Kanjo vote, but Lackawannans went O’Brien, and Luzernians went Kelly.  I can only hope that there aren’t really thousands of Teabaggers.  I mean, not everybody who voted for Brian Kelly, who is Rand Paul-lite (maybe just straight up Paul).

My issues with Paul Kanjorski stem from his acceptance of PAC contributions from the very industries he is supposed to regulate.  I do not trust corporations and I do not trust politicians who take money from them when they are supposed to be overseeing them.  Simply put, I don’t expect a politician to take $10,000 from somebody and then punch them in the face.

But, boy, do I not trust Lou Barletta and Paul Kanjorski is an infinitely better choice.  As such, I will start posting press releases from Paul Kanjorski’s office in an effort to let people know what he’s doing (which is actually quite a bit).  My fury at his industry-provided coffers isn’t any less and won’t be, but Lou Barletta, racist Teabagger that he is, does not deserve a single vote.

Speaking of which, Brian Kelly actually endorsed Barletta.  Of course he did, they both want to courageously fight for white culture and corporate America.  Down with big government!  Trust private industry!  It worked in the Gulf!

I think that this race is anybody’s at this point.  Barletta could win because he has name recognition and people are obviously unhappy with Kanjorski.  But then, Barletta isn’t a paragon either and he’s lost to Kanjorski three times already.  Kanjorski’s negatives are already out there and have been hashed and rehashed by Barletta over and over.  If people don’t like Kanjo, they already don’t.  I doubt there will be new converts.

Another factor in Kanjorski’s favor is money.  Barletta can’t raise money and Kanjorski has a ton of it.  In fact, Barletta is still in debt from previous campaigns.  That’s not a vote of confidence.  It remains to be seen whether the national Republicans will get involved.  Sarah Palin hasn’t endorsed Barletta yet, and she weighs in on everything.

If anybody is bored, they can head over to Chris Paige’s old blog (google it) and see hundreds of reasons why Lou Barletta is a failure of a Mayor.  Just off the top of my head, he’s been fiscally irresponsible, raised taxes and cut the police department.  That’s really not going to endear him to Republicans.  He raised taxes?  Gasp!  Republicans don’t do that!

Ultimately, Barletta has nothing to like, and I haven’t even started talking about his disregard for the Constitution and hatred of brown people (even though he’s got a pretty deep tan himself, somebody should ask him for his papers).

So, expect me to post a little more on Kanjorski’s doings in the region.  The blackout is over.

This Memorial Weekend, we take the time to remember those and honor those who have served and are serving our country.  Often, it seems that we forget we are a nation at war, that we have become so used to it that it takes a back seat to many other concerns.  Americans, and Afghans and Iraqis for that matter, are dying every day.  The politics of war is irrelevant.  Our men and women have been and are in harms way because that is their job.

Both of my grandfathers responded to the call and fought in World War II, one in the Battle of the Bulge.  Many of my cousins and uncles have served or are serving.  It takes a lot, a certain character, to fight for the country, and so, to our veterans and those currently serving, thank you.

Last night, the House voted to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. The idea that gay people were somehow unfit to serve because they were gay is discriminatory and absurd. All 194 representatives who voted against this repeal should be ashamed, but, if they’re Republicans, they’ll probably head to the nearest airport bathroom to solicit gay sex from a cop. Mistakes happen! The (man) lady doth protest too much, I say.

Sexuality should have nothing to do with willingness to fight and die for the country.

Also, evidently gay people can’t donate blood.  What the hell is wrong with this country?

The second company, amid a string of companies, that engaged in bribery (alleged) with the Munchak-Cordaro administration has been outed: Acker Associates. They join Highland’s ranks. How nice.

The current county policy is not to do business with any identified company. Obviously, Acker was on the verge of being outed, and the company prepared for dissolution, then reformed under another name. They probably expect to get another contract. Hopefully the Commissioners don’t allow for that.

Currently, though, all Acker’s contracts and involvement with any projects, county or otherwise, are totally suspect, and every government in the region should refuse to do business with them and investigate any current contracts with them. Local governments should also refuse to do business with the new Acker company. Changing the name doesn’t absolve you, boys, sorry.

When Governor Rendell proposed the latest state budget, he included in it something totally logical, and very beneficial for both consumers and the state: a reduction in sales tax from 6% to 4% and a broadening of items taxed.
This would’ve saved consumers money, as various products would be taxed at a lower rate, and absurd exemptions, like those on candy and cigars, would be eliminated. This would increase state revenue. Sounds wonderful, right?

Not to lawmakers in the General Assembly. Of course, Republicans in the State Senate (they control that chamber) don’t like increased taxes. “Increased” isn’t the right word, though. “Lowered and broadened” would make more sense. But various industries (like the mega-powerful and influential and infamous CANDY LOBBY) have made sure that politicians will do their bidding and fight this expansion of the sales tax.

What’s important here is the consequence for not enacting this new policy: more cuts. Libraries have already seen cuts. Despite increased funding to education, school districts are cutting. Veteran services have been cut. Now, it’ll only get worse.
But hey, the Republican vision of any government is so bare bones that only the wealthy can get by in a society. Kudos to them for routinely succeeding in making our lives worse.

The brilliant and successful racist from Arizona who championed the recent racial profiling laws, Russell Pearce, has come up with an even more brilliant idea:  Let’s stop anchor babies!

Anchor babies, for those that don’t know, are children of immigrants born in the United States.  According to the Constitution, anybody born in the United States is a citizen of the United States.

Makes sense, right?

Not to Arizona lawmakers.  They are now poised to pass a law that will deny citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants.  Of course, that is in direct conflict with the Constitution, but down in Arizona, who gives a shit about anything that can get in the way of racism?

You know, the original Constitution provided for slavery.  Maybe Arizona should re-institute it and cite their patriotism!

The way things are going down there, that might not be far off.

An “industry-financed” study, according to today’s Scranton Times, indicates that gas drilling could create 200,000 jobs and provide $18 billion of an economic impact on our region.

Of course the industry is going to say that!  On top of that, I love little caveats like “could”.  It “could” create.  Really?  It could rain money from the sky, too!

In addition, the jobs created are often not actually given to Pennsylvanians.  Out of state workers are brought in to work on the drill sites.  I would love to see industry statistics of actual Pennsylvanians hired, given the Shale Coalition’s excessive optimism about how great all of this environmental degradation is for everybody.

The state is forecasting 12,000 jobs, as opposed to the industry claiming 160,000 jobs in the same time frame.  Maybe there was a typo with an extra zero.

The industry study also says a severance tax on gas is a bad idea.  I wonder why it says that.  The argument is that drillers will move to other states if a tax is enacted… but every other state has a severance tax, so that line of industry “logic” goes out the window.

Rob McCord, Pennsylvania’s Treasurer, has proposed a solution to the pension crisis that I heard from former State Senate Candidate Chris Doherty: Borrow.

Frankly, I’m not entirely sure I agree with this, but at least it’s something.

Ideally, through a Constitutional Convention, enacting a progressive tax, as opposed to the current flat tax, would definitely raise money, as people who make more, would pay more.  This could easily be used to raise funds to help plug the hole.  So could, say, revenue from a severance tax on natural gas drilling.  So could, say, closing the Delaware Tax Loophole.  So could, say, allowing video poker machines in bars and taxing them.

There are a lot of options.  More debt isn’t necessarily the most ideal.

The only positive about borrowing money at this point is that interest rates are so low.

McCord also believes that new teachers should have their pensions renegotiated, i.e. reduced.  This would require current teachers to sell-out the next generation.  This is horribly wrong.  Not only that, but it would cause yet another pension crisis down the road.  Why?  Well, current teachers would have higher benefits, but new teachers would be contributing less, meaning that the pension fund would come up short yet again.  We just can’t do that to school districts or taxpayers.  This consistent deferring the problem and creating new ones needs to stop.

Controversy – excuse me – “Controversy” has swirled around Joe Sestak’s claim, made months ago, that the Obama administration offered him a job if he would drop his primary bid against Senator Arlen Specter.

While this doesn’t look good, it is not nearly the big deal that some would like it to be – that some, of course, is Pat Toomey.

If the Obama administration offered Sestak a job to drop out, that sucks.  Boo hoo.  They shouldn’t have done it, and, in any case, Sestak rejected it and went on to win.  If there’s an investigation, both parties said they would cooperate fully.

I don’t really know if the offer itself is illegal, although it’s definitely unwise.  Regardless of whether or not this happened, or the nature of the whole affair, it’s a moot point and does not point to some grand sort of corruption, the likes of which Pat Toomey would love to exist.

Sorry, Toomey, people dislike radical conservatives.  Going on and on about a job offer isn’t going to change that fact.

Rather, discussions about issues, like Toomey’s radical dislike of gays, for example, or his views on Reaganonics would be a little more productive for the electorate.  But Toomey probably wouldn’t come out of that smelling like roses.

PA Attorney General and Trainwreck Governor candidate Tom Corbett has used the power of his office, once again, to stonewall efforts to learn more about him and/or criticize him. This time, he has denied Keystone Progress its Right-To-Know request pertaining to documents related to Corbett’s Health Insurance lawsuit. Not only that, when Michael Morrill, the head of Keystone Progress, went to the AG’s office to hand deliver a new request, he was told that he couldn’t drop it off!

The excuse was that everybody was out to lunch, however, he arrived at 1:15 and stayed until 1:45. If that’s the case, then too many workers appear to be taking too long a lunch, particularly late. I know I’m famished by noon. Maybe Morrill should submit another RTK request.

Once again, Tom Corbett has proven that he is unfit not only for the governor’s mansion, but also his current post as Attorney General. Power has gotten to his head and his desire to stonewall any attempts at criticism or investigation show that he belongs in George Bush’s entourage, not in Pennsylvania politics.

Here are the respective press releases from Keystone Progress:

Corbett’s Office refuses to accept Right to Know Request from Keystone Progress

(HARRISBURG, PA)-Keystone Progress attempted to deliver a Right to Know Request to the Office of Attorney General, but after a 40 minute wait at 1:30 in the afternoon, was told “Everyone is at lunch. Mail it in.”
“Once again, Tom Corbett’s Office is showing its disdain for the public and for the rule of law,” said Michael Morrill, executive director of Keystone Progress. “The Office of Attorney General cannot arbitrarily refuse to accept the legitimate requests of Pennsylvania citizens because its entire staff is at lunch at 1:30 in the afternoon.”

Here is the chronology of the OAG’s refusal to accept a Right to Know Request, by Michael Morrill, executive director of Keystone Progress.

1:15 PM I arrived at Office of Attorney General’s reception area on the first floor of Strawberry Square in Harrisburg. I was asked to call upstairs to the OAG’s office on the 15th floor to get permission to go upstairs. I told the woman who answered the phone who I was and that I wanted to come upstairs to submit a Right to Know request. At first, she said I could come right up. I asked her to talk to Capitol Police officer on duty to let him know it was alright. When the officer got off the phone, he told me that she could not allow me to come up and that I should wait a few minutes until she got an answer. She told him that she would call back in a few minutes.

1:25 PM The officer on duty apologized for the delay and called the OAG asking whether they would allow me upstairs. He was told “everyone was at lunch.” The person on the phone said they would not allow me upstairs, but I could wait.

1:44 PM The first floor receptionist was called by OAG. They said again that everyone was at lunch and that I would have to mail in my request

(The following is the original news release that we filed in anticipation of being able to submit our request.)
Keystone Progress re-files Right to Know Request concerning Corbett’s suit to overturn healthcare reform
First request was denied. Keystone Progress seeking more specific information after Corbett’s office tried to hide correspondence with his major political funder.

(HARRISBURG)-Keystone Progress (KP) has filed a detailed and specific Right to Know Request with Tom Corbett’s Office of Attorney General, seeking information on correspondence concerning Corbett’s politically motivated suit to overturn the federal healthcare reform legislation.

The request seeks all correspondence concerning that suit between the OAG and numerous political operatives and organizations. This is KP’s second request for this information. The first was turned down by Corbett’s office.

Keystone Progress recently uncovered emails that revealed Corbett’s office has been working with a Republican campaign organization to plan to overturn the recently enacted federal healthcare reform law. KP uncovered the relationship in a series of emails released by the State of Wisconsin Department of Justice under a similar request by One Wisconsin Now.

Fourteen state attorneys general have filed suit to overturn the Affordable Healthcare for America Act, the federal healthcare reform law. Corbett has repeatedly denied that his efforts are political, despite the fact that he agreed to join the suit even before he had read the healthcare reform law. The lawsuit was filed just seven minutes after President Obama signed the bill into law.

The staff of the attorneys general have been working with the Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC). RSLC describes itself as “the only national organization whose mission is electing Republicans to the office of Attorney General, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State and State Legislator.”1 RSLC is organized as a 527 organization which has contributed over $58 million to elect Republicans at the state level. RSLC was Corbett’s largest contributor during his race for reelection as attorney general, giving him $691,000, according to the PA Department of State.2

MORE

“At the risk of getting subpoenaed or being subjected to retaliation by Attorney General Corbett, we are filing another request for this correspondence,” said Michael Morrill, Keystone Progress’ executive director. “The Wisconsin emails reveal what we believe is the tip of the iceberg concerning the involvement of the OAG and political operatives in this suit. Corbett’s office should comply with this request as the AG’s office in Wisconsin did.”

The request seeks all correspondence between OAG and the following:

* Republican State Leadership Committee
* Republican Attorneys General Association
* Republican Party of Pennsylvania
* Republican National Committee
* American Justice Partnership
* Caleb Consulting
* Tom Corbett for Governor
* Tim Barnes, Chairman, Republican State Leadership Committee
* Scott Ward, President, Republican State Leadership Committee
* Ben Cannatti, Political Director, Republican State Leadership Committee
* Erin Berry, Associate General Counsel, Republican State Leadership Committee
* Casey Phillips, Regional Political Director, Republican State Leadership Committee
* Michael Luethy, Regional Political Director, Republican State Leadership Committee
* Adam Temple, Press Secretary, Republican State Leadership Committee
* Robert Sechrist, Director of New Media, Republican State Leadership Committee
* Michael Steele, Chairman, Republican National Committee
* Karl Rove
* Chirag Shah, Campaign Manager for JB Van Hollen WI Attorney General
* Rob Gleason, Chairman of the Republican Party of Pennsylvania
* Joyce Haas, Vice-Chair of the Republican Party of Pennsylvania
* Christine J. Toretti, Republican National Committeewoman
* Robert Asher, Republican National Committeeman
1 Republican State Leadership Committee website http://www.rslc.com/about-rslc/
2Pennsylvania Department of State http://www.campaignfinance.sta…

Rick Santorum is doing a Primary State Tour, which, of course, indicates that he’s seriously considering a run for President. Good luck with that. It’ll be pretty embarrassing when he loses Pennsylvania, much in the way it was embarrassing for Al Gore to lose Tennessee in 2000.

But that’s not the news here. Rick Santorum has said that he is concerned that the Teabaggers are trying to redefine conservatism and went so far as to say the federal government can be good.

Holy shit.

When Rick Santorum says the Teabaggers are too crazy, then, well, it’s pretty damn bad.

Which brings me to Mitch McConnell, the Senate Minority Leader, who said that “Dr. Rand Paul’s message can win this election.”

How sad that would be.

Aside from being against the Civil Rights Act, Fair Housing Act, and Americans With Disabilities Act, Rand Paul, Republican Senate Candidate from Kentucky, also is taking money from Neo-Nazis and White Supremacists. Nice.

Now, one could say that this was unintentional, except that his spokesman, Chris Hightower, posted “Happy Nigger Day” on Facebook and mentioned how he liked going to the mall dressed in KKK attire. Hightower was fired, but this is very obviously a horrific pattern.

This is the face of conservatism that scares even Rick Santorum.

The end is nigh.

Given today’s big Scranton Times headline citing the need for Legislative reform, readers can expect the obligatory Scranton Times editorial calling for the reduction in the size of the legislature (which was not on the list of proposed reforms in the article, by the way). I would’ve thought we’d see it today, but no.

So allow me to pre-empt this.

The corruption is a problem, the need for reform is obvious. But despite the constant barrage of “reduce the legislature” chants from the Scranton Times and numerous populist-rhetoric loving politicos, one issue has not been brought addressed adequately, or in some cases, at all: constituent services.

The crux of my argument against the reduction in the size of the Legislature is that fewer representatives mean less representation. In other words, Pennsylvanians would have access to less Democracy. One candidate for a local political office suggested that because Paul Kanjorski offers constituent services just fine, legislators in PA still can, even with a reduced legislature. Sorry, that’s a tad different. Federal and state services are different, and constituent services are much harder to get on a federal level.

But beyond that, and I hate to rehash arguments I’ve made over and over on this site, people deserve easy access to those they elect to represent them. No amount of corruption can justify cutting democratic representation to shreds. One important factor that these reductionists forget is that corruption isn’t relative to size. Corruption will remain because corruption, not the amount of representatives, is the problem.

So tackle the problem.

One of the main contentions of anti-Legislature-ites is that it’s too expensive. Simple. Cut staff. That’ll reduce cost immensely. Clearly define legislative roles. Establish tighter rules on contracts. Don’t allow staff to do campaign work on state time. Simple stuff.

The grand jury report which prompted today’s Times article also suggests making the Legislature part-time and extending the House terms to four years. Both of these are mistakes. Having my elected officials working for me year round is good. And having a chance to throw them out every two years is also good.

In the end, influencing the legislature and corrupting the process would become much easier if there were fewer elected officials to influence, lobby, contribute to, and basically buy off. A diverse legislature, made increasingly so by large numbers, is only good for people, as it’s more proportionally democratic. I understand why business and powerplayers want to cut people off from the process – us little guys can’t buy access – so hopefully people will wake up to what’s going on here and stand against corruption and for a more equitable representative democracy.

In the free market-driven utopian vision pressed incessantly by Republicans and those they entangle, everything gets worked out by business without the fear of government intervention ruining this or that venture. In fact, if there were no regulations on business, these ultra-capitalists argue, then everything would be hunky-dory. That’s right, business would hire more, people would have more money in their pockets, and manna would fall from the heavens.

Now, let’s take a look at the oil spill.
BP, a private corporation, didn’t bother following governmental, or its own, safety procedures on its rig. Why? It’s cheaper. The capitalist way is, of course, to increase the bottom line by any means necessary. Now, though, we see that this “means” has led to a horrible end: the mega-pollution of a large body of water, the destruction of pristine coastline, the ruining of coastal ecology, the death of Gulf tourism, and the ruination of untold business.
But, critics point out, regulation failed, too. The government agency (stacked by Bush appointees with industry ties) failed to properly inspect Deepwater Horizon. The strange tendency for Americans to blame the government for pretty much everything wrong with everything has kicked in, and cries of “this is Obama’s Katrina” and “this is the government’s fault” have already begun to resound. Both claims are untrue. In the case of the latter, the responsibility is no less the company’s because of lax oversight on the government’s part. That’s like saying you deserved to be robbed because you forgot to deadbolt your back door. Blaming the victim for being at fault is absurd.

The other claim, that this is Obama’s Katrina, is equally false, but brings me to an interesting point. First, the response to Katrina, or its lack, led to the deaths of thousands of Americans and while Bush gladly started two wars over the deaths of thousands of Americans, he barely lifted a finger for New Orleans, except to say that “Brownie” was doing a great job when in fact corpses were floating down streets-turned-rivers and people were living in squalor in a football stadium. The Big Easy still hasn’t recovered.

But Obama does have a huge problem here. Sure, he’s getting updates. Sure, he’s got his people on it. What he hasn’t done, though, is bring the government to bear and, frankly, I don’t know why. Right now, BP is handling everything spill related. This is not the time to trust the tired Republican free market capitalist meme that what’s good for business is good for us all. While Rand Paul is saying criticism of BP is Unamerican, BP is destroying American industry through their inept handling of this spill. Sure, BP is liable, but they obviously don’t have the resources to fix this. The spill has been going on for weeks, and no end is in sight.

It took BP weeks to even release a live feed of the leak. They are stonewalling the media. They are not forthcoming. The government needs to walk in, take over, get its scientists on it (instead of BPs scientists), and come up with a solution. Private industry failed to place necessary safeguards and now it’s failing to bring this travesty for a conclusion.

Here, I’m all for a government takeover. Obama should be, too.

After he wakes up, if he wakes up, then he needs to re-examine BP’s American operations. When a company is grossly negligent, as BP was at Deepwater Horizon and apparently is at its other rigs, it doesn’t deserve to keep doing business with the United States. Adequate punishment is needed. The only deterrent, in our capitalist system, is to hit their pocketbook. The only way to do that is to fine them like hell, make them pay for the cleanup, raise the liability cap so every fisherman whose livelihood BP ruined can sue them, and bar them from future drilling. I would go so far as to shut down any oil rig owned by BP, or any company for that matter, that is found with any violation of safety regulations or fails an inspection. What’s the point of having rules if oil companies can ignore them without consequence?

Arizona, hell-bent on putting the “South” in the American Southwest, has not only made looking brown a suspicious activity, now teachers who speak with accents can be reassigned or fired and ethnic studies have been banned.

The overarching goal of making Arizona a haven for white culture may have minor success in the form of the racists that run its legislative and executive branches, but they are bringing to light long-standing problems with the vision of a White Republican Utopia that many conservatives get goosebumps over: that minorities are people, too.

In fact, they have the same kind of flesh and blood. If you prick them, they bleed! Fancy that. I teach a young girl from a former Soviet-Bloc country who posed an interesting question to me the other day. She said, “Why do Americans hate Spanish people so much?” I responded the most Americans don’t. That’s not the interesting part, though. She then said, “The media makes them look bad, the government makes laws to hurt them, and the police target them. Are you sure most Americans don’t hate them?”

Ouch.

My student said this to me innocently, and with curiosity, as she wanted to understand why we say one thing and do another. I never quite thought about the media’s role in this issue, but obviously Arizona’s laws aren’t helping perception of American intentions. After all, as Sarah Palin said, “We’re all Arizonans now.” As in, their racism is making us all look like assholes. And from my perspective, since Palin obviously didn’t mean it how I took it, Eugene Debs pointed out that “While there is a lower class, I am in it.” I look at the world that way. If one of us suffers, we all suffer. If one state discriminates against non-whites, then we all bear that responsibility and shame.

As for the most recent Arizona infraction, reassigning people with accents, I teach with a woman from Ireland. I can only assume that because she’s white, she would be able to keep her job, but let’s actually pretend this AZ law is about accents. Her experience with James Joyce, William Butler Yeats, and Irish literature of all kinds would be tossed aside for what? American purity? Newsflash: Americans have accents. People from Boston sound different than New Yorkers and Philadelphians who in turn sound different than Southerners.
Arizona is a land of absurdity. They exemplify what happens when Republican right-wing ideologues hold office. All the more reason to stop Newt Gingrich’s planned “Republican Revolution Pard Deux” in November.

Reports of the death of the Democratic Party have been greatly exaggerated. Apologies to Mark Twain, who has that line ripped off him on a regular basis, but I thought it time to opine on a bit of supposedly conventional wisdom that I have long claimed was inaccurate.

For months now, the meme is that the Democratic Party is going to lose a major amount of seats in the House and Senate and some big name Republicans (a man named for a slimy amphibian, Newt) have even claimed that Republicans will take back the majority.  Remember Newt’s Republican Revolution?   For some reason, GOP nostalgia is taking precedence over rationality.

Allow me to ask another question:  Do you remember the Lost Decade?  As in, the past ten years?

The reason I ask is because most people haven’t, in fact, forgotten that Republicans ruined the economy, and a majority of people still lay the blame at Bush’s feet, as they should.  Job loss slowed under Obama, and has finally turned around.  But the popularity of both parties needs to be examined here.

Democrats have a favorability rating of about 50%.  Republican favorability stands at 40%.  Congressional Republicans get a whopping 30% favorability.  Obviously people remember that GOP governance is a disaster for the majority of Americans – the working poor and middle class.

The factor that needs to be considered is voter enthusiasm.  Republicans always outstrip Democrats, but Democrats outnumber Republicans.  Democrats have won the last 7 special elections nationwide.  Republican incumbents and establishment picks are getting knocked off in favor of Teabaggers.  When the ultra-right co-opts an entire party, the average voter (who usually is moderate, despite the absence of prominent moderate voices in political discourse) will not vote extremist.

This is the Democrats’ hope: that the Republican Party will fully embrace the Teabagger Revolution, which is very white, very racist, anti-government, anti-Social Security, anti-Medicare, and other unappealing monikers.  Rand Paul exemplifies the dregs of this movement by openly proclaiming he wouldn’t have supported the Civil Rights Act, is against the Americans With Disabilities Act, and the Fair Housing Act.  He says this is because he is a libertarian, the political philosophy with which the Teabaggers identify.  People will not vote for this type of wingnuttia, and Democrats will capitalize.  The GOP plan to use the Teabaggers for votes has been backfiring and will continue to do so.

So, obviously I disagree with what the pundits have been saying.  True, some have come around and maybe the CW is changing, but local headlines about anti-incumbent fever have no basis in reality, as we’ve seen.  Democrats will lose seats, sure.  That’s because they have huge majorities that’ll be impossible to hold on to, and tradition dictates the midterms are always bad for the President’s Party.

But a new Republican Revolution?

I think not.

The ongoing saga with Tom Corbett’s “Subpoena-Gate” (I coined that myself) has taken an interesting turn:  He’s withdrawing the subpoena.  I guess this issue will fizzle and dissolve into the political blunders of yesteryear.

That is, unless we bloggers continue to remind voters that Tom Corbett doesn’t like to be criticized and used the power of his office to target legitimate dissent.  Of course we will!

Before this decision to stop acting like something out of an Orwell novel, Corbett actually tried to defend his decision.  His office said that this had “nothing to do with limiting critics” and that they were subpoenaing the blog, CasablancaPA, because they thought the anonymous blogger was Bret Cott, somebody convicted in the Bonusgate scandal.  Simple question: If they believed it was Brett Cott, why not subpoena Brett Cott, who has been proven to have relevant information, given his conviction?   Answer: Corbett’s office was trying, very unsuccessfully, to make this debacle look legitimate.

As videogamers like to say:  EPIC FAIL.

The ACLU offered to jump into Subpoena-Gate, which would’ve undoubtedly meant even more press.  The more press this got, then the worse it would’ve been for Corbett.  So it only makes sense that he decided to drop the subpoena.

But much of the damage is done, and I’m sure Dan Onorato will remind voters that Tom Corbett uses his power to silence dissent.

Onorato on the issue: “When I get attacked—whether on anonymous blogs, in campaign ads or in editorials—I respond on the facts, which Corbett has not done in this case.  Moreover, while it is fine to note the motivations of a critic, it is not acceptable to attempt to bully them into silence—and that’s what Tom Corbett appears to be doing: petty and abusive bullying of a critic. Part of being an executive is dealing with the criticism that comes with making tough decisions.

“This is another example of Tom Corbett politicizing the Attorney General’s office to benefit his campaign, the same Harrisburg-insider tactics that Pennsylvanians are tired of and that I will end as governor.”

Ouch.