Sunday, July 31, 2016

Late Summer Chorus

The dandelions and phlox are long gone and the day lilies are past, but the Queen Anne’s Lace has been in bloom for the last two weeks along with the chicory, those blue flowers that grow along side our highways.  Soon the goldenrods will be in full flower. 

It is a little early for Queen Anne’s Lace, but this early bloom is another one of those harbingers of global warming.


Tonight I heard a rain frog, and the chorus of katydids and crickets, a sound I have always associated with late summer, is making its August racket.  The Eastern Pennsylvania evening chorus has to be one of the most beautiful sounds on our planet.

Saturday, July 30, 2016

Calling on Clinton supporters

You may have noticed Trump signs sprouting up on people’s lawns.  While I am fully aware that signs don’t vote, they do give encouragement to a candidate’s supporters.  

If you are a Clinton supporter, it is time to act.  You can get Hillary Clinton signs on line.  Order some.

In 2008 many people were unsure about voting for Barack Obama, the black guy with the funny name.  Supporters were urged to, in effect, testify that it was ok to vote for him.  We had to make it acceptable and show our neighbors that it was acceptable.

I’m sorry to say that we must do that again.  The Trump supporters are backing the least qualified person ever to run for President, but they are loud, belligerent, and aggressive.  They don’t understand American values or the American Constitution.


We need to fight back.  Order your signs and get them out.

Friday, July 29, 2016

The PennEast/UGI draft environmental impact statement

I just spent the entire day plowing through the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s PennEast/UGI draft EIS on the proposed pipeline.  It was not fun.  I found an incomplete report, a number of actual errors, and a conclusion that any ill effects of the pipeline can be mitigated.  

I learned that the pipeline will not affect property values.  Will not affect insurance rates.  Is totally safe.  Will increase tax revenues.  Will be carefully monitored.

I ended up with four pages of comments.  Do you know how long a time the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission grants people to make comments at the upcoming hearing on the EIS?  Five minutes.


That might be cut to three if too many people wish to testify.  Since the conclusion that the pipeline is a good idea appears on the first page of the transmittal letter, it might not matter, but I do plan to speak out.

Thursday, July 28, 2016

Invitation to Putin

Imagine the outcry if Hillary Clinton invited Putin to hack into Donald Trump’s emails.  Imagine the hue and cry charging her with aiding our enemy, with interfering with American elections, and calling for her imprisonment.  


Now reverse that, and nobody seems to care.  That’s just Trump being Trump.  This man is not cute, not amusing.  He is a danger to our American way of life, and I am still finding it hard to believe that he is a candidate of one of the two major parties.

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Trump's going down

I have been blogging now for five or six years.  I’ve learned not to be too wordy, too academic, too political sciencey, but sometimes I forget, like the last three nights.  Way too much on parties.  

Tonight I will keep it short.

After the last few days I am more convinced than ever of one thing:


Trump’s going down.  Big time.

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

American Political Parties, Part III

To join the Democratic or Republican party, all you need to do is register in that party.  There are no tests of ideology, no entrance requirements, and no membership cards or dues.  Nonetheless, in years past, party identification was an important aspect of many people’s identity.  

People voted their party; split ticket voting was much less common than it is today.  Voting for your party is the rational way to vote.  Why would the voters of Pennsylvania elect a Democratic governor and Republican majorities in both houses of the state legislature?  That makes no sense whatsoever.  When you hear someone proudly announce, “I vote for the candidate, not the party,” ask that person, “Why would you do a stupid thing like that?”

I’ve also heard an equally ridiculous statement that the two parties are alike.  Really?  All you have to do is read the platforms adopted earlier this month.  Check out the planks on gay rights, or abortion, or global warming, or Guantanamo or the minimum wage.  You can get both platforms on line.

I also get angry when I hear Independents bemoan their inability to vote in the Democratic and Republican primaries.  In a primary the party members are selecting their nominees.  Why would either major party allow someone who doesn’t care enough or know enough to fill in a party preference on a registration form to help select that party’s nominee?


And why should the party voters be the only people qualified to select delegates to the presidential convention?  Remember the party organization and the party-in-the-government, both important party components.  Hence, Superdelegates.  Right now the Republicans are wishing they had had a few more at their convention.

Monday, July 25, 2016

American Political Parties, Part II

In my previous post, I noted that American political parties may be divided into three segments:  party organization, party-in-the-government, and party-in-the-electorate.

I wrote that the party organization consists of the unsung volunteers (hacks?) who do the precinct work, register voters, and volunteer time, energy, and money to keep the parties operating.

Party-in-the-government consists of the men and women who hold elective positions.  In Pennsylvania this would include the “row officers” at the county level, the elected executive positions at the state level, and the state legislators.  At the federal level it would include the members of Congress. 

I said I would explain why Clinton supporters had a right to be irritated at Bernie Sanders.  While he was in the Senate and caucused with the Democrats, Sanders never joined the party.  Imagine a “newbie” who suddenly announces, after years of disdain for the party label, “Hey, I’ve decided to run for the presidency in your party.”  

While I personally don’t have too much of a problem with that, and even contributed funds to the Sanders campaign, I can understand how the Sanders move might rankle Democrats in the U.S. Senate,  This helps to explain why so few Senators and Representatives supported Sanders.

This is also a good place to point out the inherent conflict between the party organizations and the party-in-the-government.  Legislators represent not only members of their own party, but independents and other party members as well.  If you are a Democrat representing a rural area, you better be in favor of guns.  


On the other hand, party organization members tend to be more liberal (if Dems) or more conservative (if Reps) than their legislators.  Activists get angry when “their” legislators take centrist positions, forgetting that most voters tend to cluster around the middle.

Tomorrow I will look at those voters, the “party-in-the-electorate.”  I’ll explain why “open primaries” that permit independents or even other party members to vote in a party’s primary make no sense.  I’ll also discuss why the electorate often votes against what would seem to be its best interest. 

Sunday, July 24, 2016

American Political Parties

The very first course I taught at San Jose State was “Political Parties and Elections.”  I have been involved in party reform, was a plaintiff in a party renewal case that reached the U.S. Supreme Court, and have been active in party politics since before I could vote to as recently as this past Saturday morning on Lehigh Avenue in Palmerton.  In other words, I am a damn expert on American political parties.  Before you read further, you should get paper and a pencil so you can take notes.

This will take some time.  Along the way, I will discuss why we should have closed primaries, why Superdelegates are a good idea, why pre-primary and pre-convention endorsements are a bad idea, why Bernie Sanders delegates have a right to be angry, why Hillary Clinton delegates have a right to be angry with Bernie Sanders, and why people who think there is no difference between the Republican and Democratic parties are either stupid or willfully ignorant.

I just realized, this might take two posts.  Or three.

The usual way to look at the Democratic and Republican parties is to think of them in segments.  First, there is a party organization.  (I will discuss party-in-the-government and party-in-the-electorate later.)  In Carbon County, party organization would include the precinct committeemen and women, the members of the County Executive Board, the County Chair and other officers, and the various local Club members.

Why are people active in the party organization?  They don’t get paid, don’t get hired for government jobs, are often asked to donate to party coffers, and receive very little gratitude.  When they go to retirement homes to register voters, when they staff booths at the County Fair, when they work the polls, they are doing those jobs because they think they can make a difference.  

Both Democrats and Republicans also have state party organizations, made up of delegates elected from local parties, and a national organization, which is usually starved for funds.  Fat cats like to donate to candidates, not parties.  The candidates are a better investment. 

Party organizations often get into trouble when they endorse candidates before primaries.  Well into the 20th century, party organizations actually picked the party candidates, but now it’s usually done through primaries.  (Note:  there are states that still pick candidates by state conventions, but Pennsylvania is not one of them.)  

This past election the organization in Pennsylvania spent millions pushing McGinty over Sestak, including paying for really dirty ads.  While McGinty won her primary, this was money that might have been better spent against Toomey, and it irritated Sestak supporters, who right now seem to be sitting on their hands.

Now we learn in an email leak that the national Democratic organization belittled the Sanders campaign and was hardly neutral, just as many Sanders supporters always assumed.  

As our Carbon County Democratic Chair has pointed out, endorsing or supporting candidates before the primary or convention generally does not help the endorsed candidate and irritates the followers of the non-endorsed candidates.  So Bernie supporters (and Sestak supporters) have a legitimate reason to be angry.


Tomorrow:  The Party-in-the-Government, and why Hillary supporters have a legitimate beef against Sanders.

Saturday, July 23, 2016

The new Star Trek movie

It was incredibly hot today, the Mahoning Cinema is air conditioned, and we thought, “how bad can the new Star Trek movie be?”

Here’s how bad.  After 20 minutes of a plotless special effects sensory bombardment, we decided it was better to walk out and brave the heat than to spend another minute inside the theater.


By the way, I’ve heard people say, “But you’ve already spent the money for the ticket, you should watch the rest of the film.”  What those people are really saying is, “You’ve wasted the money, now you should waste your time.”  I don’t think so.

Friday, July 22, 2016

Roger Ailes

If you had to list five people who were responsible for the polarized political climate today, one of those people would be Roger Ailes, the producer of Fox “News.”  Probably Rush Limbaugh and Bill O’Reilly would make the list as well, but Roger Ailes would be at the top.  

The man who brought us Nixon and Willie Horton ads had no love for this country or for journalistic integrity.

Now the mighty has fallen, dismissed from Fox for sexual harassment.  Is he guilty?  Take a look at his picture–a strikingly unattractive old man.  Of course he’s guilty.


Don’t worry though.  His severance deal reportedly is $40 million, and he has changed American politics in negative ways that may never be undone.  He must be proud.

Thursday, July 21, 2016

A republic madame, if you can keep it

After the Constitutional Convention in 1787, Benjamin Franklin was asked by a woman if we had a monarchy or a republic.  Franklin is reported to have answered, “a republic, Madame, if you can keep it.”

We almost lost it in 1861, when a group of southern states attempted to secede from the union in order to maintain slavery in their states, but we won that war, and the rebels were defeated.

Now we see one of our two major political parties nominate a man to be president who is completely unqualified, a man without principles, a narcissist, and a serial liar.  We see millions of people cheering his nomination, dancing in the convention center in Cleveland, happy to participate as the most powerful nation in history marches toward its demise.  

If Donald Trump wins, you and I both know this country is going down.  Millions of people will be complicit.  If you are one of them, I ask you to think about what you are doing.  Think in historical terms.  Think of yourselves as heirs to our traditions, our Constitution, our Bill of Rights, and our heritage.  

I don’t care if you don’t like Hillary Clinton.  Hell, I don’t like her that much either, but she will not ruin our country and will not get us into nuclear war.  Yeah, she may be bland, or establishment, or same old same old.  But really, think about the alternative.


Let’s keep the Republic.

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Beyond Irony

Here are two headlines that appeared in today’s Times on the same page:  “States Fight Obama’s Climate Plan, but Quietly Prepare to Comply,” and “Temperatures Are on Course for Another Record Year.”

The first article noted that 27 states , almost all with Republican governors and legislators, have sued to block the President’s climate plan.  They oppose the plan’s move away from coal-fired plants.

The second article noted that the Arctic sea ice was melting at a record pace.  According to NASA, January 2016 was the hottest January since 1880, and that trend has continued for each month through June.

Remember how people said dinosaurs couldn’t adapt.  Dinosaurs lasted for millions of years. 


Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Pence, way worse than Trump

When you have a choice between an opportunist and a true believer, always go with the opportunist.  The opportunist will move and bend, but the true believer will lead you right over an ideological cliff.

The Republican platform calls for rolling back the right of gays to marry.  Trump, I’m reasonably sure, doesn’t give a hoot about that issue.  On the other hand, Pence, religious fanatic that he is, really believes that gays will be going to hell.

When the auto industry was collapsing in 2009, Pence opposed a rescue.  “Simply handing $15 billion out to Detroit today, however popular it may be with some Americans, I believe, in my heart, it would ultimately be a disservice to the American taxpayer, to our children and our grandchildren.”  Note the “in my heart.”

In 2008, with the economy about to go into free fall, Pence voted against TARP.  He said the country should deal with “...this crisis with resolute courage and faith in God and the principles of freedom and free enterprise.”  Note the “faith in God.”

Pence really is a true believer.  If Trump wins, hope he doesn’t die.


The Pence quotes are taken from today’s New York Times, “On Same Ticket, But Not Same Page,” by Andrew Ross Sorkin, p. B-1.

Monday, July 18, 2016

Roaches

In 1994 between 500,000 and 1 million Tutsis were killed in what has come to be called the Rwandan genocide.  The massacre lasted approximately 100 days; units of the army, militias, and ordinary Hutu citizens slaughtered their Tutsi neighbors in a spasm of murder and brutality.

This, of course, did not just happen overnight.  Tensions had been running high, and radio commentators had been advocating a slaughter for months, urging Hutus to be prepared to kill Tutsis, whom they referred to as “roaches.”

Overflow visitors from Beltzville earlier this summer were redirected to Mauch Chunk Lake Park.  That park also reached capacity and had to be closed.  Today I learned that someone on a Facebook page devoted to Beltzville Park activities said the “roaches” from Allentown and Beltzville had moved into Mauch Chunk Lake Park.


This is not the America I respect and love.  I don’t know what is happening to us.

Sunday, July 17, 2016

St. Joe's Festival in Summit Hill

Bleenies, halushki, halupki, waffles and ice cream–what’s not to like?

We’ve been enjoying the St. Joe’s Festival in Summit Hill for years.  It’s a great church festival in a region noted for great church festivals.

I must say my enjoyment was slightly marred this year by a political extremist.  On the way in we walked past a red pickup sporting nasty bumper stickers.  One said “Stop voting for idiots” with pictures of President Obama and Hillary Clinton.  The other had a picture of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump and said “Trump the Bitch.”

The truck also had a Drexel University sticker and one of those snaky “Don’t Tread on Me” stickers.  This is someone who definitely drank the Kool Aid.  


Somebody in that crowd of happy people was a very angry person.  Fortunately, he didn’t stop me from enjoying the festival.  

Saturday, July 16, 2016

British lose right to claim that Americans are dumber

I subscribe to a monthly compilation of editorial cartoons and columns entitled The Funny Times.  One of the best sections of that paper is “The Borowitz Report” by Andy Borowitz.  This month the paper featured his article entitled “British Lose Right to Claim That Americans Are Dumber.”  

The article pointed out that after the vote to leave the European Union, the British could no longer engage in their sport of treating American voters like idiots.

However, the article concluded with this hopeful paragraph:

In the face of this startling display of national idiocy [a pub owner in North London] still mustered some of the resilience for which British people are known.  “This is a dark day,” he said.  “But I hold out hope that, come November, Americans could become dumber than us once more.”

Friday, July 15, 2016

Jerry Brown

The latest issue of The New York Review of Books features a review of former Secretary of Defense William J. Perry’s book entitled My Journey at the Nuclear Brink.  The review is by none other than Governor Jerry Brown of California. 

First of all, I am amazed that more people are not worried about the continuing presence of massive numbers of nuclear weapons.  Certainly Mr. Perry is.  Second, I did not realize that we had come even closer to a nuclear exchange during the Cuban Missile Crisis than most observers thought.  (Don’t you like the term “exchange,” sort of like Christmas presents?)  Third, the thought of Trump’s finger on the nuclear trigger worries me even more.

I also want to call your attention to the fact that the Governor of the largest state in the Union reads and reviews serious books.  I supported Jerry Brown when he ran for President, and I am proud that I did.


Do you suppose Gov. Pence reads books? 

Thursday, July 14, 2016

Taxes are what we pay for a civilized society

That’s a quote from Oliver Wendell Holmes, but it is definitely not something Pennsylvania Republican legislators believe.  They propose to make up the looming state deficit by raising the tax on cigarettes by a dollar a pack and increasing the take from gambling.  They also plan some one-time borrowing and some deliberate underfunding of programs, which will lead to cost overruns.


People like Rep. Heffley brag about how fiscally responsible Republicans are.  No, actually, they are not. 

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Supreme Court Quiz

1.  When the Supreme Court decided in 2000 that George W. Bush should be president, the vote was five to four.  How many Democrats sided with Gore, and how many Republicans sided with Bush?

2.  When the Supreme Court threw out portions of the Voting Rights Act that ensured fair treatment of African American voters, how many Republicans on the Court voted to toss them?

3.  Republican Senators are refusing to approve President Obama’s nominee to the Supreme Court.  They are doing this because:
A.  the nominee is not qualified.
B.  the nominee is not recommended by the ABA.
C.  they are hoping that President Trump will appoint a hard-right 
Republican ideologue to the Court.

Do not talk to me about how Ruth Bader Ginsberg should not have said anything about Trump because she is supposed to be above politics.  The Supreme Court is as political today as the House and Senate.  When Trump is elected, it will become more political, a rubber stamp for his anti-gay, anti-abortion, anti-immigrant policies.

The New York Times has editorialized against Ginsberg for her anti-Trump remarks.  Really?  Supreme Court justices acting as non-partisan, above politics, neutral on the issues, making decisions based on law, not ideology?  Give me a break.


Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Margaret Chase Smith

A Republican, Margaret Chase Smith was the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate on her own and the first woman to serve in both houses of congress.

She was also the first Senator to speak out against Sen. Joe McCarthy on the Senate floor in a speech she called the Declaration of Conscience.  She said, “I don’t want to see the Republican Party ride to political victory on the Four Horsemen of Calumny–Fear, Ignorance, Bigotry, and Smear.”


That whirring sound you hear is Sen. Smith spinning in her grave.

Monday, July 11, 2016

Open Carry

If you are a cop seeing your fellow officers hit and dying, you look around for who might be shooting.  You see people with assault rifles in the street.  How would you react?

The Dallas Police Department is to be praised for not opening fire on those armed demonstrators.  This raises another question:  why would you attend a peaceful protest carrying an assault rifle?  

A spokesman for the Texas State Rifle Association said it would be a mistake to blame the state’s open carry law for the police mistakenly identifying one of the demonstrators as a possible shooter.  The spokesman, Mr. Williamson, said, “I think he [the demonstrator] chose to carry a gun because he could, and it’s his right.”

Yeah, and there’s the problem.  Why do you have a right to carry an assault rifle to a protest, or on a college campus, or into the state legislature?  Why would you carry a long gun to a peaceful demonstration?  Why would a state legislature pass such a ridiculous law?  

I know that the N.R.A. and the gun manufacturers have a lot of money for campaign contributions.  I know that gun nuts are sometimes really nuts.  Nonetheless, one would think that some common sense would prevail, although it is Texas.


Why won’t the N.R.A. just once admit some culpability?  

Sunday, July 10, 2016

Free advice to "Black Lives Matter" from an old white guy

First of all, I understand the irritation of many people with the name of the movement.  Conservatives are fond of saying, “But all lives matter.”  I don’t think most of them give a damn, but the name is bothersome to me as well.  The white cops killed in Dallas obviously matter.  We have way too much violence in this country, some a result of bad policing, but much a result of a society with way too many guns and too little sense.

I understand that the title came from a hashtag.  I’m not even sure what a hashtag is, and I don’t have any great suggestions for improvement.  “All lives matter” sounds like an anti-abortion group.  Perhaps “Our lives matter” might do it.  At least it’s inclusive.

Secondly, don’t alienate your potential supporters.  I remember how angry I was when people flew North Vietnam flags at anti-war demonstrations.  All it did was irritate potential allies.  Blocking traffic on an Interstate highway makes people mad.  It gains no allies.  When I saw that, who do you think I identified with–the demonstrators or the people caught in the traffic jam?

Finally, hold off on the demonstrations and show some sympathy for the people of Dallas.  Your point is made.  I remember telling my classes at least 15 years ago about an infraction cops often charged African-American drivers with.  They gave them a DWB.  That meant, of course, “driving while black.”  At that time, I don’t think many of my white and Asian students believed me.  


Today they would understand.  And, more importantly, so do police departments all across America.  More and more departments are updating their training, widening their recruitment, installing cameras, and improving their procedures. Change is often incremental, but it does occur.

Saturday, July 9, 2016

Saving Family Farms

Last year the Republican legislature passed and the Republican governor signed a bill overturning a North Dakota law, passed in 1932, that barred non-family corporations from owning farms.

North Dakota allows for a referendum.  This occurs when citizens don’t like a bill passed by the legislature.  They collect a set amount of signatures on a petition, the bill is put on hold until the people vote, and if they vote no, they have, in effect, vetoed the legislation.

This past June the voters of North Dakota overwhelmingly voted against the legislation.

You are probably asking yourself, if public sentiment was so heavily against the legislation, why was it passed in the first place?  Would it help if I told you that corporate farm interests have lots of money?  

Incidentally, the Farm Bureau, which generally represents the largest and wealthiest farmers, has said it will go to federal court to overturn the results of the referendum.  

A spokesman for the North Dakota Farmers’ Union, which supported the referendum, said “We simply do not believe in our communities that the ownership of land in the hands of a corporate structure is in the interest of long-term agricultural production.”


Information for this post was taken from Julie Bosman, “North Dakotans Reconsider a Core Value,” NYT, (June 13, 2016), pp. A8, A11.  This is why I read my old NYT when I come back from vacation.  I’m pretty sure this was not covered on MSNBC, or CNN, or Fox.

Friday, July 8, 2016

Saying goodbye to Gavin

After spending six days on a cross country-trip and ten more days on the farm with our ten-year-old grandson Gavin, we said goodbye today.  Gavin will be returning to California, and yes, we are sad.

When John Maynard Keyes was asked about the long-run effects of deficit spending, he replied something to the effect that in the long run we are all dead.  When I first heard that, I thought it was incredibly clever. 

Now that we have a grandson, it doesn’t feel clever at all.  We might be dead, but our grandson will still be here.  The second largest lake in Bolivia is bone dry from climate change.  The world’s population continues to grow at an alarming rate.  Terrorists are active all over the Middle East and in Africa.  In my own country, it is obvious that people no longer know how to behave in a democratic and peaceful manner.


Thirty years from now Linda and I will be gone, but Gavin will be 40.  What kind of country and world will he live in?  It is that question that keeps me doing my best to make this world a better place, and I feel like time is running out.

Thursday, July 7, 2016

America as fragile

In an article in the New Yorker entitled “Trump Days,” George Saunders reports on a number of Trump rallies and the violence that accompanies those rallies, often, but not always, instigated by Trump supporters.  

Saunders concludes with these lines:  “I’ve never before imagined America as fragile, as an experiment that could, within my very lifetime, fail.  But I imagine it that way now.”

We have supposedly responsible people in Congress supporting a man they must know is completely unqualified to be President.  Of course, those same members of Congress can’t even pass a bill to deny guns to terrorists or fill a vacancy in the Supreme Court or pass legislation to fight the Zika virus.  

Even before Trump, our national experiment has been failing.  Read the vicious letters on Obama in the Morning Call.  Look at the gerrymandering.  Look at campaign finance.  Look at the attempts to rig elections by changing the rules on voting.  


Trump did not emerge full-blown out of nowhere.  We have a culture that glorifies violence, ignorance, and macho grandstanding.  Trump has caught that wave.

Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Jihadist victims

Fox News and other conservative outlets keep talking about how radical Muslims are engaged in a war on Christianity.  I wonder if they’ve taken a look at some of the recent victims.

In the last two weeks:
41 killed at Istanbul’s airport
22 killed in a Bangladesh attack
250 (at least) killed in Baghdad while celebrating Ramadan


What we are witnessing is not a war between Muslims and Christians, but a war between an international organization of terrorists and civilized society, whether it be Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, or secular.

Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Where's Doyle

I finally caught up on the accumulated Times News from when we were on vacation, and I counted at least four group pictures of Carbon County residents that didn't have Rep. Doyle Heffley in them.

What's up with that?

Monday, July 4, 2016

Donald Trump and anti-Semitism

Donald Trump is many things--danger to to the Republic, nativist xenophobe, “birther” instigator, and I could go on, filling the page with Trump’s shortcomings.  That is why it depresses me that that some people are trying to use one of his recent Twitter posts to suggest that he is an anti-Semite.

Evidently the image of a six-pointed star on a stack of money originally appeared on a racist Twitter account.  That does not mean, however, that Trump is anti-Semite, knew of the connection, or vetted the source.

Why not attack Trump for the message that went along with the post, which called Clinton the “Most Corrupt Candidate Ever!”  


That is not campaigning, it is hurling insults, it is beneath presidential politics, and it sounds like a playground taunt.  Focus, people, focus.

Sunday, July 3, 2016

Gov. Tom Wolf, slow learner

When I’m on vacation, I have all my newspapers saved.  I can’t bear to miss anything.  I’m up to June 18 in the Morning Call, and I see that Gov. Wolf selected a Republican Superior Court Judge to fill a vacancy in the state Supreme Court.  This in spite of the fact that she was not on the list of judges ranked by merit by Wolf’s own panel.

The reporter, Chris Brennan, speculated that Wolf was trying to curry favor with Republican legislators prior to the budget battle.

This action comes a few weeks after Wolf fired Secretary Quigley, an excellent DEP head, for trying to protect the environment, which is what one assumes the head of the Department of Environmental Protection would do.  Evidently Republicans and a few Democratic friends of industry pressured Wolf on Quigley, and he caved.

What Wolf still hasn’t realized is that Pennsylvania legislators like Doyle Heffley and Jerry Knowles are interested in pushing a hard right agenda.  They will not be impressed by his attempts to compromise.


Maybe I should quit reading old newspapers.  It’s too upsetting.

Saturday, July 2, 2016

It's What We Do

When I called my friend Sandra to ask her to march in the Lehighton Sesquicentennial parade with the Lehighton Area Democratic Club contingent, she said she already had plans to visit her daughter that day, but she would try to rearrange the schedule.  

At the parade today she said her husband exclaimed, “I can’t believe you would march in a parade on a holiday weekend,” and Sandra replied,”It’s what we do.”

I’ve thought about that.  People who are “political” often have difficulty explaining why they spend all that time canvassing, marching, stuffing envelopes, raising money, and demonstrating when it would be so much easier to relax and have a beer.  

I think Sandra’s answer was one of the better I’ve heard.  It’s what we do.


By the way, if you saw the parade, that ten-year-old boy marching with the Club was our grandson Gavin. 

Friday, July 1, 2016

Windmills in Iowa

Iowa generates about 30% of its electricity from wind energy, mostly from very large windmills of the type proposed for Penn Forest Township.  As I noted in an earlier post, I think we should be turning to renewable soft energy such as backyard windmills or solar panels on the garage roof.  The next best thing is renewable hard energy, which takes a large capital investment, is centralized and needs a distribution system. 

The Iowa windmills, which you can see from I-80, are definitely a hard energy source, but they do use renewable energy (the wind is always blowing there), they are non-polluting, and they don’t add to climate change.

Incidentally, we also saw quite an array of huge windmills in Wyoming, a state where the strip mining of coal is a major source of economic activity.  Change is coming.