Ending the Day With PCN

I watched about the last 25 minutes of the Pennsylvania State House this evening, from 10:35 to 11:00 or so. It was not encouraging.

Speaker Dennis O'Brien had to keep asking House members to stop talking over their colleague at the microphone, to stop having conferences in the well of the house, and to generally behave themselves. He looked as tired and exasperated as a parent whose children will not leave the cat alone or pick up their toys or stop drawing on the walls or whatever. Rep. Evans, who was repeatedly called to the microphone to answer questions about budget, also looked exhausted, which may be why he kept calling Rep. Kate Harper Mr. Speaker (usually in her case it would be Madame Speaker). [UPDATE: I am corrected by a commenter who says according to rules of procedure all questions and answers are addressed to whoever is at the podium. In this case it was O'Brien so Mr. Speaker was absolutely correct.]

Rep. Daryl Metcalfe provided the sort of rhetoric that I have come to expect from him. He said the budget did not provide money for treatment, treatment for the spendaholism that the governor so clearly had. When the House, by its own rules, had only 12 minutes to finish important business before suspending for the day, I don't think Rep. Metcalfe helped matters any. Rep. DeWeese called the question and whatever bill (HB 1256?) was under discussion seemed to pass. The House will reconvene tomorrow at 9:30 a.m.

This is no way to run a railroad, let alone a state.