Category: Pennsylvania

Apparently State Representative Tim Solobay (D-Washington County), who either is, at best, looking to score cheap political points off people’s ignorance, or, at worst, has never taken a basic economics course, wants to set up a board for regulating the price of gasoline, just like the one that ensures residents of the Keystone State pay too much for milk.

Dairy farmers are a powerful interest group in the commonwealth, and the state sets minimum prices for milk.  Presumably the gas board would set maximum prices for gas.   Maximum gas prices create shortages, since it will force gas out of the state, where refiners will be able to sell it at a higher profit.

If Representative Solobay manages to bring gas lines to the Keystone State, I’ll be saying a hearty goodbye and screw you, and will move to Arizona.  Seriously, the Democrats here are really starting to scare me.

It looks as if baseball bat control could be coming to the Keystone State.

Protecting kids from injury is the top priority, said Carroll, who represents Luzerne and Monroe counties and is an assistant coach on his son’s Little League team.

Of course, it’s for the Children.  I’m glad to see that all the other problems in our state have been dealt with, that our legislators can now feel free to turn their attention to the menace of aluminum baseball bats.  I played with aluminum bats when I was a kid.  I also didn’t always wear a helmet!  I got beamed with a ball once too.   Some would say this explains a lot.

The Representative who is sponsoring this legislation’s name is Mike Carroll, and he’s a freshman Democrat from the Wilkes-Barre area, out to show the world how much he cares, apparently.   He can be contacted here if you’d like to tell him what you think about this steaming piece of crap legislation.

This article explains the struggle for the GOP to maintain it’s traditional dominance of the Philadelphia suburbs.  No single political party has clearly wielded total power in the state over any length of time.  I think this has been healthy for our politics in general.

The consequences of this are enormous for the balance of power in state politics. For decades, support from these suburban Philadelphia counties has been crucial for GOP success statewide. To control the state, Republicans needed the suburbs. But beginning in the 1990s, the suburbs began to tilt toward the Democrats in some very important elections.

This erosion in GOP support can be traced across presidential, statewide, and congressional elections.

I worry very much about Pennsylvania turning into a single party run state like New Jersey, New York, or Massachusetts.  I am not pleased with the political climate in any of those states, and corruption is a more serious problem when a single party has total control over political institutions.

This, quite honestly, is the fault of the Republicans themselves.  Pennsylvania suburbanites voted Republican because of fiscal issues.  We’re not a markedly socially conservative area.   With the GOP having all but abandoned any sense of fiscal discipline or smaller government, it’s leaving GOP supporters in the area hard pressed to find reasons to keep affiliating.   I myself used to be a Republican until the national party pissed me off with their crap.  They have yet to do anything of substance to bring me back into the fold.  I have been willing to punish the party for by voting for some Democrats in certain races, and I will continue to do so.

But if the Philadelphia Suburbs start voting in lock step with the city, I’ll move to Texas or Arizona faster than you can blink.  I have no desire to leave Pennsylvania, but I won’t live in a state run by Democrats.  I’ve seen our neighbors go that route, and it doesn’t end with happy results.

The Pennsylvania General Assembly has passed the Readshaw bill unanimously. This extends liability protection for land owners who open their land for public hunting.

“For decades, the Recreational Use of Land and Water Act stood to protect landowners who agree to open their land to hunters,” Roe said. “However, a recent civil case in Lehigh County, demonstrated that there was a need to strengthen the law, thereby continuing to provide liability protection for landowners who generously open their lands to hunters.

“With House approval of Rep. Readshaw’s bill, we now look forward to working with the Senate to advance this measure to Governor Edward G. Rendell’s desk in a timely manner.”

I expect Rendell will sign this. Even if he doesn’t, unanimous is a veto proof majority. Pennsylvania has always protected land owners from liability for opening their land to hunters, but a recent case in Lehigh County, in which a judge ruled a property owner partially liable for an injury to a woman a half-mile away from a hunter’s stray bullet. It’s good to see it pass unanimously, which is quite a feat. I’m sure the senate will quickly pass it.

I have to agree with this editorial.

Fewer districts makes it more difficult and more expensive for individuals to run for state representative and state senator, which arguably leads to a representative body more remote and out of touch with the citizenry. While many Pennsylvanians, as well as this editorial page, have been put off by the excesses perpetrated by our representatives and senators, we aren’t convinced that the wrongs committed had anything to do with the size of the Legislature.

I have to agree that I don’t think the size of the legislature is a problem.  I think we might want to consider a part time body though, like Virginia, and many other states.  Having fewer reps doesn’t really excite me, but I figure the less they all work, the better off we’ll be.

Pennsylvanians have overwhelmingly said no to Act 1, the latest property tax reduction scam scheme to come out of Harrisburg. My school district, Neshaminy, rejected it more than 2 to 1. In a demonstration of why your vote really does count, Bristol passed the Act 1 measure by ONE vote.  One commenter on a local paper states:

The message we are sending to Harrisburg is that we don’t trust you. We were supposed to get real estate tax relief from the slots pallors. Now you way we will give you that relief if we ok a new tax. No thanks boys and girls your word is no longer any good with us.

Amen!