They’re Making Me

How stupid do they think we are? Dumb question!

President Barack Obama wanted Sen. Arlen Specter - the former Republican, now a Democrat - to have a clear path to victory in the Pa. primary election. And U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak was the fly in the ointment.

What to do? What to do? Well, we’ll call in former President Bill Clinton and ask him to run interference for President Obama. And Clinton did. Now get this - according to Clinton and the White House, Clinton went to Sestak and offered him the deal of a lifetime.

Here it is: “OK, Mr. Congressman, we’d like you to quit your job and give up on your run for the Senate, and if you do we’ll give you an unpaid advisory job in the Obama administration.” How’s that sound?

Well, it sounds ridiculous. And silly.

How much does Sestak make as a U.S. Representative? About $174,000 a year. How much would he make as a U.S. Senator? About $174,000 a year.

So he’s supposed to give up both jobs, for which he’d be paid $174,000 a year, to become an “unpaid” adviser to the Obama administration just so Specter can get a free ride to the General Election in November?

No one in his right mind would have taken that offer if, indeed, that was the actual offer. How stupid does the White House think we are? There was no improper conduct, White House Counsel Robert Bauer said. No one in the administration discussed the offer with Sestak, he said.

C’mon. Give me a break. Maybe it’s true that no one in the administration talked directly with Sestak, but if someone in the administration talked directly with former President Clinton, who in turn talked directly with Sestak, then the end result is that someone in the administration talked directly with Sestak. To suggest otherwise is to be one brick short of a load.

If President Obama doesn’t want to tell us what he offered Sestak to step aside for Arlen Specter’s benefit, well then don’t tell us.

I might have been born yesterday, but I wasn’t born in the dark yesterday. This explanation does not fly with me.

And I’m thrilled that Sestak gave Specter a good thrashing last week. If that doesn’t send a message to the White House, nothing will.

It’s no big deal, but I’m finished with American Idol

I said this last year and the year before that, but I mean it this time - I’m done with American Idol. It’s finally worn out its welcome with me.

After the 2008 season of American Idol - David Cook beat David Archuletta - I was irritated. In the 2009 season - Kris Allen beat Adam Lambert - I was disgusted. Then this year, when Lee DeWyze won out over Crystal Bowersox, I was just infuriated.

Not at the judges - they had very little to do with it. But at the viewers who couldn’t see that Bowersox was so superior in vocal talent over DeWyze.

The show has absolutely become little more than a popularity contest.

But when a bunch of teeny-boppers with cell phones (and plenty of time to waste by voting over and over again), but not an ounce of common sense to rub together, can manipulate the voting process to the extent they have, I take exception.

I’ll not spend a lot of time explaining why Bowersox was the clear winner. She just was. Anyone who witnessed the three songs each of them sang last Tuesday night, unless they had an agenda that had nothing to do with talent, would have reached the same conclusion I reached: Bowersox kicked DeWyze’s backside every which way but loose. No comparison.

If you doubt that, go back and watch just the last song each of them sang - Bowersox was unbelievably good; DeWyze was unbelievably bad.

I’m sorry, but Bowersox should have won going away. That she didn’t means that four of the last five American Idols were lesser talents than the runners-up.

This is not a talent competition. I’m finished with it. I think I’ll watch the grass grow instead.

Rendell should focus on Pa. problems first

Before Pa. Gov. Ed Rendell started offering advice to President Barack Obama on Sunday, he might have checked his tongue at the door.

Because Rendell is not in a position to offer advice to anyone, not with all the problems we have to deal with right here in Pennsylvania.

Not that that matters in the world of politics, where everyone seems to have answers to everyone’s problems but their own.

Rendell, for example, has been in office for seven-plus years and most of the serious problems that plagued us when he entered office are still problems plaguing us today.

Not much has improved in seven years. If anything, it feels worse.

And yet there he was at a meeting of Democratic governors, offering Obama advice. “It’s got to be better thought out,” he said. “… they need to revamp their strategy,” he said. It’s got to be more proactive,” he said.

This from the man who was 100 days late getting his own recent budget passed.

There is something to be said, in circumstances such as this, for looking in the mirror and taking your own advice.

And what was Rendell’s answer when someone finally asked the only question that needed to be asked: What should Obama do to right his political ship?”

“I don’t know,” Rendell said.

No kidding.

No handouts for us … I hope

It was barely lunch time on Wednesday, when the first mention was made on TV news that some states, cities and municipalities in the area affected by the back-to-back snowstorms along the Eastern U.S. were preparing to go hat in hand to the federal government, looking for financial assistance to pay for the mess.

Oh no, I said to myself. Not another bailout.

Cleanup will be expensive. And there isn’t enough money in most state or municipal budgets to pay for it.

I wasn’t surprised. But I hope they think better of it. And I surely hope Pennsylvania (or any local governments) decides to clean up its own mess without looking for a handout.

Because it’s symptomatic of much of what’s wrong with government - federal, state and local - these days.

When something goes wrong, when something out of the ordinary happens, we look for someone else or something to solve our problems for us.

And we almost always seem to think the feds have the answers to all of our problems. They rarely do.

There was a time in this country when people took pride in being self-sufficient, self-sustaining, independent. They not only could solve their own problems, but they insisted on solving their own problems.

Somewhere along the line, that changed. And far too often for our own good, we started putting our hands out waiting for the federal government to fill them with green or gold or silver or whatever color represented the lucre of the day.

It’s a bad habit to have gotten into. Sometimes it can’t be helped - hurricanes in Louisiana, for example, or mudslides and forest fires in California. Maybe a flood here and a tornado there. Maybe terrorist planes destroying the Twin Towers in New York City.

But most of the time - as in these back-to-back snowstorms dumping 45 inches of snow on York County in four days - it should be our burden to bear.

And I hope we find a way to bear it without looking for a handout.

Because we can. Because we should.

No surprise the GOP has dirty hands, too

It was only a matter of time before state Attorney General Tom Corbett came out with a list of Republicans who were going to be charged with theft, criminal conspiracy, legislative corruption, conflict of interest, obstruction of justice and/or misuse of public funds.

Because you know darned well if the Democrats were doing it - as has been alleged - the Republicans were involved in it, too.

That’s the way it works in politics.

With a dozen or so Democrats having already been slammed about 16 months ago, and now 10 or so Republicans having been charged, it would behoove us all to sit tight while more people on both sides of the aisle get their fingers smacked.

I’m not the slightest bit shocked, either, that former House Speaker John Perzel, R-Philadelphia, was one of those charged Thursday. Saddened? Yes. But shocked? No. Also charged were his former chief of staff, Brian Preski, and former House GOP counsel Brett Freese.

Perzel is alleged to have headed up an illegal scheme in which more than $10 million in taxpayer dollars was used to help win political campaigns.

What will truly be of interest is to discover, as these cases plod their way through the justice system, how long these games were being played at taxpayer expense.

I’m thinking 20 years, at least. Maybe 25. These shenanigans were like a boil on the side of taxpayers, and finally that boil is being lanced.

It’s another tragic day in statewide politics because it clearly shows that the top priority in Harrisburg for many years wasn’t doing the work of the people, but using the people’s funds to assure certain campaign results and guarantee incumbent success.

And one party is as guilty as the other. Shame on them both.

How many reasons does one need to avoid national health care?

So let’s pretend you think the solution to all of our problems is to give the federal government free reign to solve them as it will.

Let’s even pretend you didn’t see the “60 Minutes” TV show from a couple weeks back, in which it was shown that the feds’ management - or mismanagement, from my perspective - of Medicare has resulted in fraud that costs taxpayers between $60 billion and $90 billion a year.

Then surely, by now, you must be aware of the horrid mismanagement of the swine flu vaccine program that has resulted in shortages of the vaccine all over the country. People are dying from swine flu - including one youngster from Adams County just last week - and the feds are still trying to get a handle on the vaccine shortages. Maybe we’ll get the rest of the vaccine by the end of November or December. Or maybe we won’t.

This is a virus we’ve known about since last spring. The feds, working with its own Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, determined it would need 200 million doses of the swine flu vaccine to see us through the crisis. And it picked five manufacturers - four from outside U.S. borders - to produce the needed number.

But they’ve failed miserably. Here we are in early November, and we only have about half the number of swine vaccines we’re supposed to have - 90 million doses so far. And many of those have gone to children, who have been hardest hit by the virus. That’s fine, but it leaves about 100 million U.S. citizens hanging by their fingertips waiting for supplies to arrive - preferably before the flu season passes, of course.

And guess what? Because the makers of the swine flu vaccine are behind the eight ball, there also is a shortage of the seasonal flu vaccine the feds are supposed to make available to about 110 million American citizens every year.

Maybe it’s just me, but if this is an example of how the federal government hopes to manage a national health care system, I think we’re all in trouble.

Maybe I’m in the wrong business

It was published this week in a York Dispatch story about the York City School District’s negotiations with York City Police over hiring city cops for security duty at football games, that the city district could save $3,000 for the season if it hired three city cops instead of five.

Did anyone do the math on that deal? I know, I’m a pain in the neck. But $3,000 for five home football games works out to about $75-$100 an hour per police officer for either a three- or four-hour football game assignment. That’s a full week’s pay for a lot of people, who work for less than $10 an hour.

Come to think of it, that’s doctor and lawyer territory.

Downtown restaurants might not be getting fair shake

It was a Wednesday in mid-August. Around noon. And the restaurant owner was pitching a fit.

Something about York City officials doing him no favors when they approved the location of not one, but two, hot dog carts within spitting distance of his front door.

“They forget who’s paying taxes and who isn’t,” he said. “And they forget that because of Central Market days on Tuesday and Thursday, restaurant owners in the first three blocks of North George Street (in downtown York) have to make their money on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, plus weekends, if they’re open then.”

Especially in the summer months, I said. “That’s right.” And especially during lunch when workers in the downtown area are out and about. “That’s exactly right,” he said. Then he added something about making hay while the sun shines.

It’s not easy, I said. “No, it’s not easy,” he replied. “And the city doesn’t make it any easier.”

Maybe, but what’s the alternative? Should the city ban hot dog vendors from operating on downtown streets? Maybe the city should stop encouraging potential restaurants from locating on “Restaurant Row” on North George Street if they’re also going to allow hot dog vendors to operate on the streets. Or maybe they should give the permanent restaurants a break on their property taxes.

I counted the number of restaurants. Three in the first block. Three in the second block - plus one that shut down last year. And two more in the third block north of the Continental Square. This is the city’s Restaurant Row. That’s how the city promotes the area.

But as you read this, one had disappeared altogether, one is shut down, three others are holding on by their fingertips and the rest are doing the best they can under difficult circumstances.

Then add two hot dog vendors to the mix on the same street. Hey, we have a free-market system. I support that. And I totally agree that competition should determine the winners and losers in any business environment. Let the best restaurants win.

That said, profitability for a restaurant is a delicate thing. A few dollars here and a few there can make a huge difference.

Plus, the hot dog vendors get to set up right on the heaviest walking traffic areas. There is an advantage in that.

And you just know that the hot dog vendors aren’t going to make an appearance during the three or four coldest months of the year, when it’s darned difficult to find workers willing to venture outside in search of lunch.

I don’t know what the answer is, but I’ll say this much. The restaurant owners have made a significant investment in their buildings, their equipment and their employees. And if they can’t make a profit - for whatever reason - they’re going to be forced to shut down or move elsewhere.

Which, in the end, could leave downtown workers with few options for lunch - in a worst-case scenario, two hot dog stands for two-thirds of the year.

There is a limit to the number of hot dogs one person can eat in a week.

So I’ll be packing lunch. Or driving out to the suburbs.

We could do with fewer experts

I don’t know if anyone else heard it, or if they even made a connection when President Obama said in a press conference last week that there was a panel of “experts” already working on various aspects of his national health care plan. Real problem-solvers, these “experts.”

It’s called the MedPAC program - a Republican invention, President Obama said. And basically what these health care “experts” do is get together and think up ways we can get better quality, lower cost health care.

At quick glance it sounds like a decent idea. Let the experts make recommendations.

But in about 10 seconds of thinking about it, I changed my mind. Where have these “experts” been for the last 20 years? What we need in Washington, D.C., is fewer “experts,” not more.

If health care “experts” really and truly had any ideas about providing better quality, lower cost health care, it’d already be done, wouldn’t it? I mean, they wouldn’t be sitting around waiting for a presidential invitation, the problem would already be fixed. Right?

The ”experts” working on our behalf are why this country is already in the shape it’s in.

Who’s working on our financial crisis? Financial experts. Who’s been working on our auto industry disaster? Auto experts. Who’s been trying to solve the problems of public education and improved test scores? Education experts. Who’s been trying to improve the federal tax code? Tax experts.

No matter what area of societal interest we talk about - OK, let’s talk about the military, it’s the military experts who are guiding us - there’s always a bunch of experts hiding around the corner.

Everywhere we turn there’s another “expert.” And you know what, they’ve done a damn poor job of solving any of our problems. If anything, they’ve made them worse.

So now, we’re turning over President Obama’s national health care plan - already at risk of blowing up in his face - to another bunch of “experts.”

Nah! I don’t think that’s such a great idea. This time, how about a bunch of regular folks who actually have to live in the real world - people who might actually have a few ideas of their own about health care?

Could they do any worse than all these experts? I don’t see how.

Feeling like a socialist yet?

Just wondering: Feel like a socialist yet?

In the last six months we’ve seen our federal government take over a big piece of the insurance industry - AIG - and the banking industry in a trillion-dollar bailout.

Then the feds dropped $70 billion in the domestic auto industry, effectively taking over General Motors and controlling the future of Chrysler.

Then, once taking over GM, the feds moved to use tax dollars to support a “cash for clunker” program, designed to encourage people to dump their old cars in favor of new cars. And if that wasn’t enough incentive, they added a nifty income tax deduction that would encourage the purchase of a new car - a Chevy, no doubt.

And don’t forget the feds’ interest in the national health care industry. If President Obama has his way, he’ll control that by the end of the year, too, even if it means raising taxes he promised a year ago he’d never raise.

So what’s next? The residential housing industry perhaps? There’s already an $8,000 taxpayer-paid incentive for first-time home buyers.

The list keeps getting longer by the week.

But don’t worry. If you aren’t feeling like a socialist yet, I have a hunch you’ll be getting plenty more opportunities in the upcoming months.

What’s next? Public education perhaps. Or, the airline industry?