Lend a Hand Where You Can

The Philly Future team is asking area bloggers to consider posting a note on homelessness, and to spread the word on an event next Thursday. For more information see the excellent first person account on the philly future home page.

In my blogger profile I refer to myself as a community activist but I haven’t talked much about it. Homelessness is a big problem and it is easy to ignore it because it isn’t something you can solve with research or marches or ribbons. It is a problem that is solved person by person, one at a time, one hand helping another. It requires not only money but also personal involvement. A lot of people I know have a homeless guy, someone they look after to some degree, if only to take note of on their daily journeys.

Last May I wrote a post about my homeless guy. In it I refer to some volunteer work a group from my office does. About six years ago someone from the office signed us up and one or two days a month we take a couple of hours and open cases of canned goods and boxed mixes and put them in paper bags to be distributed to the working poor and street people. Many people can remember where they were on Sept. 11, 2001. I am one of them. It was our day to bag. After hearing the news the team decided to go ahead to the church to work because unless the world ended people would be wanting their food on the regular distribution day. Someone else from work came to find us to tell us our building, heck the whole town, was shutting down and we needed to collect our stuff. I was, in fact, holding a box cutter when the person told us how the planes were hijacked. I didn’t use one again for years, preferring to tear the boxes open.

One of the street guys who has worked with the program longer than I have, went through rehab again last year. It seems to have taken this time. He’s in an efficiency apartment now, and trying to track down his grown children, whom he hasn’t seen or spoken to for years. It is amazing to watch the transformation in him.

City street people are easy to see but the suburban homeless are more furtive, sleeping in their cars, or part of a network of informal shelters. Many churches participate in a traveling homeless shelter. They band together by geographic areas to house homeless people who seek help from a particular group that sponsors the effort. For a week or two or a month the church will host one or two or three individuals or families (usually a woman alone or with children). Church people will sign up to bring in the evening meal and eat with the guests, two other people will stay in the church that night with the guests. During the day they go to a day shelter or work or school. I can’t easily do either of those services, but I sign up for the laundry team. A few weekends each year I wash the guests’ bedding and towels.

Some quilters make “ugly quilts” to distribute to the homeless. Other formal and informal groups make contributions in whatever way they can. I know people who simply make an extra sandwich a few times a week when they make their lunch and hand it out to whomever they see on the street. Sometimes simply meeting someone’s eyes and saying “hello,” can make a difference.

A fast food chain near where I live has adopted a local homeless guy. He sweeps up around the store and keeps his stuff on the store grounds. You can often see him at a table in the corner. I assume he gets some food in return for his work. The kids like burgers and fries so we take them to that store once a week. Someone told me I should write the manager a letter telling them why I picked that place, to make sure there are some positives to balance out the negative letters they surely get for befriending this guy.

What I am trying to say here is that everyone, regardless of their relative talents and financial status, can do something. Find a way that you can reach out to someone or provide some support to someone else who does.

Here is one way you can help:
The Young Friends of Project HOME are holding an important event, this Thursday, October 27, 5:30pm to 8:00pm. It's an opportunity for young professionals in Philadelphia to learn about its efforts and to network with one another. It's a chance to connect and to help.

Lick Rick

VotebluePA has a great button (lapel not html) graphic you can download. I have it here but you should visit their site for more information.

Quarterly Campaign Finance Reports

Politcspa has a nice chart giving an overview of the quarterly campaign finance reports form PA congressional races. Interesting stuff. Allyson Schwartz and Bob Brady, among other incumbents, are sitting on big pots of money for people with no formally announced competition as of Sept. 30th. Granted the elections are a year away, but given the other good causes out there it seems almost a shame for all that moola to be spent on tv ads and mailers. On the other hand, I think everybody ought to sent Patrick Murphy a check, however small.

Silliness

Today I was late for a meeting because I had trouble getting the egg salad out of my shoe. Don't ask.

weekly legislative update

The PA House and Senate were not in session this week, so no bills passed, although some were shuffled to committees and two resolutions passed. Things should be livelier next week. Our accountant friends at PICPA have updated their legislative page.

Scooter and Judy Overview

For those who have been wondering why I am writing about Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Blinq has a good overview of the entire Judy Miller / Lewis Libby / Karl Rove situation. Lewis' connections to Philadelphia aren't germane to the Plame leak but I thought they were interesting nonetheless, as well as the prior leak the he was involved in.

More Scoop on Scooter, or, Libby Leaks Again

As promised, I read through part of the senate hearings on Lewis "Scooter" Libby. In one of them, Libby is called on the carpet over a leak to the Washington Post and the New York Times, of a Department of Defense Document that Congress had requested but been denied. As you can see, tempers flared a little. Keep in mind that this testimony was given in 1992, so, although many of the names are the same, it is the first President Bush in office, not W.

These are lengthy excerpts but I didn't want to take anything way out of context. If anything on a page is left out there a dotted line to signify it. I encourage those interested to find the full hearing and read through it. There is a lot of good stuff there.

Defense Planning, Guidance and Security Issues (Hearings before the committee on Armed Services United States Senate, 102nd Congress, 2nd session, June 3, 10, 16, and 18, 1992). (Y 4 AR5/3:SHRG 102-834)

[begin p. 15]

Chairman Nunn: The Defense Planning Guidance is a classified document is that right?
Mr. Libby: That is correct sir.
Chairman Nunn: How highly classified is it? What is the highest classification?
Mr. Libby: I believe the highest classification in it is at the secret level, sir.
Chairman Nunn: At the secret level. Does the committee have a copy of the Defense Planning Guidance?
Mr. Libby: The Committee does not have one, sir.
Chairman Nunn: Do you not furnish that to Congress?
Mr. Libby: It has not ever been furnished to Congress, nor has its predecessor, the Defense Guidance, been furnished to Congress.
Chairman Nunn: So the only place we can read it is in the New York Times. Is that right?
Senator Cohen: The Washington Post
Mr. Libby: Well, sir, actually you cannot read it there either. It is a quite lengthy document. It has a lot more to it than what appeared in a few excerpts from early drafts. So far the final guidance has not appeared, fortunately, in the press.
Chairman Nunn: Do you believe the entire document has been leaked?
Mr. Libby: It is the claim of the reporters who reported it that the entire document of the two different drafts have been leaked.
Chairman Nunn: Has there been any investigation started as to who leaked the document, how it was leaked?
Mr. Libby: As I responded to the committee, and you noted earlier, I know of no investigation being done. I have consulted the appropriate officials and been advised that none is underway.
Chairman Nunn: None is underway
Mr. Libby: Correct, sir.
Chairman Nunn: Can you tell us why not?
Mr. Libby: By its nature, the Defense Planning Guidance is circulated widely throughout the building; that is the purpose of it. The professionals in the field of investigating these matters have concluded that it is not a productive use of resources, given the wide number of people who have had access to it, to try and track down which particular office or person it came from, given the current lack of any specific indication of where it might have come from.
Naturally, if we get, at a future time, some indication, of where it came from, I am told by these professionals that they would then reassess whether it would be a productive use of resources.
Chairman Nunn: How are you going to know whether you have a productive use of resources if you are not going to investigate to being with? I mean the way you find out whether you have any evidence or whether you can pursue something to its ultimate, is to begin at least a preliminary investigation and then you make a decision about whether it would be fruitful to go forward with a full investigation.
To make a decision you are not going to investigate at all seems to me is just encouraging this kind of conduct. And it makes you wonder if this is not something that the Department of Defense does encourage.

[begin p. 16]

Mr. Libby: Well, let me begin by saying it is certainly not something the Department of Defense encourages.
Chairman Nunn: Well, no, this is too much of a coincidence for me to believe, that if the first document leaked, perhaps without DOD’s approval, perhaps with out high-level official approval, then we requested a copy of that. We went though a series of exchanges back and forth and reached some kind of, I guess, accommodation, although we never got a copy in our possession.
And then the second document is prepared and it leaks out too. And Mr. Libby, that strains credibility. Did you have anything to do with either leak yourself?
Mr. Libby: No, sir, I did not.
Chairman Nunn: Do you know who leaked it, yourself?
Mr. Libby: No, sir, I have no idea.
Chairman Nunn: Do you have any evidence of who leaked it yourself?
Mr. Libby: No, sir, I do not.

[begin p. 22]

Senator Levin: All right. Is the guidance – does your testimony tend to exactly reflect the new guidance?
Mr. Libby: My testimony very closely reflects the strategy and thinking of the Department, as it is also reflected in the new guidance.
Senator Levin: Some of your testimony, as you presented it, your written testimony, is precisely word for word the guidance this I printed in the papers. Is that intentional?
Mr. Libby: That is correct, sir.
Senator Levin: So that chunks of the guidance, literally big chunks of the new guidance, which is supposed to be a classified document, appear verbatim in your testimony here today.
Mr. Libby: I would put it slightly differently. The guidance is a classified document, but within it, under the system used in the Department, many individual paragraphs are classified or unclassified. Great portions of the guidance were designed to reflect the Secretary’s testimony. And we did not intend to seek to artificially classify thoughts and strategies (a) that the Secretary had already presented to the Congress, and (b) that we very much would like to have before you in debate.
Senator Levin: Do you submit to the Congress the unclassified portions of that guidance? Have you submitted that?
Mr. Libby: No, sir, we have not.
Senator Levin: Well, there is a real inconsistency here then. I think we have a right to the entire guidance. Now we are told that big chunks of the testimony here today are verbatim portions of the guidance, which they are, because I have checked the newspaper articles against the testimony.
And the then the answer is, you have a classified internal document form which today’s testimony is stating verbatim. How then can you argue it is an internal document? The answer is that parts of it are unclassified and parts of it are classified. And then when you ask the question, well, do we get the unclassified parts, the answer is no, except in the New York Times, Washington Post and in testimony today.
…………………….

Chairman Nunn: You have convinced me, Senator Levin. Mr. Libby, we have a real problem here. It was a problem on the first leak. The second leak, which I have to say seemed to me to be very convenient on behalf of those who would like to correct the first leak, makes the problem even harder.

[p. 29]

Senator Levin: Has the document now been approved – the guidance?
Mr. Libby: yes, sir.
Senator Levin: So it is final. Cheney and Powell have signed off on it?
Mr. Libby: The Secretary signs it, sir.
Senator Levin: And so he signed off on it?
Mr. Libby: yes, sir.
Senator Levin: And how many pages is it?
Mr. Libby: I would say, roughly 60.
Senator Levin: Sixty?
Mr. Libby: Sixty.
Senator Levin: It is all an internal document?
Mr. Libby: Correct, sir.
Senator Levin: How much of it is unclassified?
Mr. Libby: I have not done a calculation.
Senator Levin: A significant portion?
Mr. Libby: I would say that in the portion that relates to the overall strategy – as opposed to the scenario portion where I doubt almost anything is unclassified – in the portion that relates to the overall strategy, which might be in the first tenth of the document or so, there is a substantial amount of unclassified material. And it tracks the general line of thought with the presentation that the Secretary made to this committee on January 31.
Senator Levin: To say it is unclassified does not mean that the public can read it, then. Is that it?
Mr. Libby: That is correct.
Senator Levin: That does not mean that the public can read those unclassified sections?
Mr. Libby: That is correct, sir. That is my understanding, because the lawyers have a term for it.
Senator Levin: I think it s a whole new definition of unclassified. I have never heard that definition, where something is unclassified, but it is not open to the public.

I. Lewis Libby in Philly and Beyond

Any standard biography of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby you find will say that after graduating from law school he worked in Philadelphia before being asked to go to Washington by Paul Wolfowitz. (another example here)

Roughly two hours of searching around in newspapers and the Internet did not turn up the name of the firm where he worked. The names of the firms he worked at in DC are relatively easy to find, but that Philly firm...

In the name of curiosity and cats everywhere I decided to make it a mission to track it down. A week and a half and some time with Senate Armed Services Committee nomination hearings, and I have it.

Are you ready?....

He was an associate at Schnader, Harrison, Segal & Lewis, a respected firm celebrating its 70th anniversary this year.

Interested in more trivia?

Mr. Libby's wife, Harriet Grant, is also a lawyer. In fact, according to an article in the 2001 New York Times ("Cheney Aide Will Eat Horse Guts Before He'll Spill Beans," by Eric Schmitt, April 30, 2001):

Mr. Libby is married to Harriet Grant, one of the senior Democratic lawyers to interview Anita Hill during the Senate hearings on the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Clarence Thomas.

Sen. Joe Biden was chairman of the Judiciary Committee during the Thomas hearings. Want more trivia? Earlier in the same article we learn his first name and how he got his nickname:

(It takes a phone call to Mr. Libby's older brother, Hank, to learn that the "I" stands for Irv. His nickname derives from the day Mr. Libby's father watched him crawling in his crib and joked, "He's a Scooter!")

I congratulate the NYT for having taken the time to find that information. On Friday I hope to read more of Libby's nomination hearings and will let you know if there is anything else interesting in there.

One last tidbit -- Mr. Libby does have an artistic side. In between governmental stints he wrote a novel, the Apprentice, that was well reviewed. A multi-faceted guy.

Penn vs Penn State

Like most people with young children, Mr. Jane and I spend a certain amount of time thinking about the cost of college (when we're not worrying about getting the kids through elementary school or, cringe at the thought, junior high). We're both first generation college students and went to a big state university. So, you can imagine my relief when I read an article in the Oct. 10th New Yorker that touches on the relative merits of paying for an Ivy League school. The complete article, by Malcolm Gladwell, "Getting In: The Social Logic of Ivy League Admissions," is on pages 80-86; this exceprt is on pages 83-84.

“As a hypothetical example, take the University of Pennsylvania and Penn State, which are two schools a lot of students choose between,” [Alan] Krueger says. “One is Ivy, one is a state school. Penn is much more highly selective. If you compare the students who go to those two schools, the ones who go to Penn have higher incomes. But let’s look at those who got into both types of schools, some of whom chose Penn and some of whom chose Penn State. Within that set it doesn’t seem to matter whether you go to the more selective school. Now you would think that the more ambitious student is the one who would choose to go to Penn, and the ones choosing to go to Penn State might be a little less confident in their abilities or have a little lower family income, and both of those factors would point to people doing worse later on. But they don’t.”

Kruger says there is one exception to this. Students from the very lowest economic strata do seem to benefit from going to an Ivy. For most students, though, the general rule seems to be that if you are a hardworking and intelligent person you’ll end up doing well regardless of where you went to school. You’ll make good contacts at Penn. But Penn State is big enough and diverse enough that you can make good contacts there, too. Having Penn on your resume opens doors. But if you were good enough to get into Penn you’re good enough that those doors will open for you anyway.

The full study:

Dale, Stacy Berg and Alan B. Krueger. "Estimating the Payoff to Attending a More Selective College: An Application of Selection on Observables and Unobservables." December, 1998.

is available as a 54 page pdf file here.

For discussion on the topic see this article from MSN Money and this one from the Chronicle of Higher Education.

One of the little Janes attended a week-long summer class at a Penn State campus and has declared intentions of going to college there. Mr. Jane and I are encouraging any attachment to any college, if only as a carrot to wave when it is time to write book reports ("if you don't finish it on time, you'll never get into Penn State..."), but we are also very aware that Penn State is far more in line with our budget than anything with ivy on it. And so, being proud state school alums ourselves, we are pleased to see that the student makes the college experience as much as the choice of college does.

PA Property Tax vs Sales Tax

IssuesPA has two interesting articles on proposed legislation to replace the school property tax with an increased sales tax. One article discusses how the change would affect businesses, the other on how it would affect individual households. There is clearly an agenda at work here but it is a throught-provoking read nonetheless. (For example, while property owners will pay less tax, renters will pay more.)

Bad News for Many PA Kids

Keystone Politics is reporting that come January many single parents will be receiving less child support. The PA Supreme Court is changing the standard amount to be paid, adjusting it downward. While I understand the difficulty for lower-wage workers to pay child support, it won't be any easier for custodial parents to make do with less.

Philly Voter Registration Deadline

There is a reminder at A Smoke Filled Room for city residents to register to vote by tomorrow. Read here for information on important matters on the ballot.

Small Things That Make Me Happy

Every now and then I see something or something happens, something relatively ordinary, that lifts my spirits and makes my day.

Here is a list of recent small things that made me happy

1) A grocery store clerk was really helpful to me a year ago this summer. The store has a photo of the manager up so next time I saw the manager I made a point of telling him how helpful this kid (high school?) had been. A few weeks ago I saw the young man wearing a tie instead of an apron (a sure sign that he was being promoted to management). He looked a little nervous but determined. I wish him well.

2) In August I took the Little Janes plus some friends bowling. It was a good way to fritter away an afternoon and did not involve me wearing a swimsuit. When we arrived most of the groups bowling were parents with young children. Somewhere in our second game the family next to us left and we found ourselves sharing a circle of seats and a ball return with four young men, early 20's. Two were tall. Two were short. Two were African American. Two were caucausian. Three were thin. One was not. A mixed group in many ways. Initially I thought "oh, no," worried about language, rowdiness, and rough talk about women. I imagine they were equally thrilled sharing a space with us. But they really surprised me. They bowled quietly, talking among themselves and sharing a pizza. One slipped and fell but got back up without a single curse. They others teased him a little, but in a good natured way. We left before they did and I was tempted to go back and thank them for presenting such a good example to the boys in my group, but figured they would find that very odd. I made a point of talking to the kids about the young men bowling next to us, how they had encouraged and teased each other, and how they probably got together once a week or a couple of times a month to go bowling, and the importance of making and keeping good friends.

3) Last week I was going through the express line at the grocery store. The woman behind me had a loaf of Italian bread and some grapes. "How very European," I said, "all you need is some cheese." She laughed and we chatted a little. Then we both looked at my purchases, two bags of baking chips, a Mt. Dew, and some butter. "Hmmm, I don't come off so well, do I" I asked her. She smiled and said, quite truthfully, "No, I'm afraid not." It was just one of those quick, transient conversations, pleasant but passing, that helps me be optimistic about people. I tuck these memories away to be reviewed on those days when it seems like the world is going to hell in a handbasket.

Weight-y Matters

Finally realizing that I am never ever going to go to a gym on a consistent basis, about 2 months ago I started an at-home exercise routine. For upper body strength I am lifting weights. To avoid buying expensive equipment until I had stuck with it for a while I just used what we had at home. I began with cans of hominy (15 oz, about a pound) then graduated to Bush's Baked Beans (1 lb 12 oz, close to two pounds). Today, in recognition of my progress so far, I went to Target and bought 3 lb weights. Not exactly earth shattering, but this is the longest I have ever stayed with any sort of regular workout (except for daily walks, or the jogs during the failed dog experiment, but that's another story). Any day now those veins are going to start popping out on my biceps, I just know it. ;)

weekly legislative update

While some bills were shuffled to committees this week, nothing was voted on.

Our accountant friends at PICPA have updated their weekly legislative report.

Financial Planning Week #5: Keeping Track

As I've mentioned the PA legislature declared this Financial Planning Week so I've been posting bits on the subject this week.

Today's post is a big shout out for good record keeping and knowing where you stand, financially speaking. Mr. Jane keeps a spread sheet of our car loan and mortgage, as well as our various investments. Each table is taped inside the door of the pantry, so every time either of us is rooting around for a can of soup or taco mix packet, we see those numbers. I can track our progress month by month, crossing off each payment as the first of the month passes. Sometimes when I'm looking through those pretty catalogs that come in the mail, I open the pantry door and look at our debt and investment numbers. I have to ask myself, where do I want our money to go? Do I need another sweater? Would it be better to send someone a gift basket, at an exorbitant price, or create and mail my own? It does make me stop and think.

House Dems Highlight Schwartz

The House Democrats web site is highlighting Rep. Allyson Schwartz. Her parentage is impressive. Her father was in the Korean War. Her mother survived the Holocaust.

Schwartz is in her first term and next year will be facing her first re-election fight, often a critical point. A recent fundraising letter said "the Republicans have spent the summer courting potential opponents to try to unseat me." Apparantly all they have come up with so far is a former "Apprentice" candidate who has never held office. That can only be encouraging for Schwartz.

Financial Planning Week #4: Spend Saturday Night with Suze

All this week I've been honoring the state legislature's designation of this as Financial Planning Week. Today's tip is to watch the Suze Orman show on Saturday night. It's one from 8 p.m. onward for several hours (off and on). Yes she can be a little overbearing and arrogant, but given the number of overbearing arrogant pretentious self-righteous windbag men on tv, I find it a little refreshing to see a woman, even if she is a little annoying sometimes, too. And she does try to have a little fun. And she is helping people out with their finances. I like watching people talk about how they solved their money problems. She regularly has updates. Last week we saw the "KFC Woman" again. Mr. Jane has a regularly scheduled threesome on Saturday nights, with Suze and me.

Bermuda Triangle: Gerlach, Rove, DeLay

How much are we judged by the company we keep? In politics your friends and enemies can be a fundraising bonanza or a millstone around your neck. Possibly both at the same time. Rep. Jim Gerlach, of PA’s 6th district is having that trouble even as we speak. He squeaked through the election last time and faces Lois Murphy on the ballot again a year from November. (Read here for a description of the district.)

Gerlach has seen some controversy lately over his associations with Karl Rove and Tom DeLay. This past July Karl Rove headlined a fundraiser for him. Just getting in cost $1000, but a lucky few paid $2500 to sit in on a round table with the two. (Events like this, held by most in office, are, in my opinion, part of the reason for voter apathy. How can what I think make a difference if I don’t have $2500 or am not willing to pay $2500 to get a politician’s attention?) The event happened in the midst of the Valerie Plame affair and Rove’s name was coming up in the grand jury. Oddly enough, the CAFTA vote came up just days later (Gerlach voted for), and not long afterwards Laura Bush came to the area to help raise funds for Gerlach, too.

(Read here for a description of the event, here for a description of protests outside, here for a more general description).

While that might make some fodder for Lois Murphy’s campaign, it might not have long enough legs to last until next fall. Fortunately for Murphy, Gerlach also have close ties to Tom DeLay. In fact, he is ranked (by someone who sits down and does such things) as among the congressmen closest to DeLay. He voted in favor of weakening ethics rules to keep DeLay in power, and to allow him to stay in power even if indicted. For those working people who can be fired for so much as a bad urine test or being late on the job a few times, the idea that you can keep a position even after being indicted might seem a bit much. Gerlach has received a lot of money from DeLay’s PAC. Last October (these figures are old, you can get more recent ones from Open Secrets, see resource list on this blog), the only Pennsylvanian to receive more was Pat Toomey. Plus, Gerlach was the only congressperson from Pennsylvania to contribute to DeLay’s legal defense fund.

In an article from the Houston Chronicle, Gerlach discounted the idea that DeLay’s problems could make problems for him:

Gerlach said the Texan's ethics controversies would have little impact in the district, saying that most voters here "don't know who Tom DeLay is."

At the same time, Gerlach said the House ethics investigation should proceed and "let the chips fall where they may."

Indeed. I’m sure there are many voters in PA-06 who might take some offense at his suggested that they don’t know who DeLay is. Even if they don’t, his cavalier attitude towards their knowledge of current events might lead them to look it up. We’ll have to see.

While researching this piece, I ran across two quotes, which put side by side, show politics at its most offensive. John Brabender, Gerlach’s media consultant, a service he also provides to Rick Santorum and serves as godfather to one of Santorum’s children, said this in reponse to the Rove controversy:

"In this country we respect people's rights and until a time that some court or somebody proves that somebody has done something wrong, that we treat people with respect," Brabender said.

And yet, the first Gerlach / Murphy campaign was most noted for Gerlach’s campaign literature that tied Murphy to the Taliban (quote from a campaign volunteer):

Campaigning in late October for Lois Murphy, who challenged incumbent Republican Congressman Jim Gerlach in Pennsylvania’s 6th district, I experienced the power of a lie. Gerlach campaign telephone message ads linked Murphy to the Taliban (MoveOn supports her, MoveOn “supports” the Taliban, ergo Murphy = Taliban-lover). Who would swallow that, I thought, especially since Murphy is a feminist? But…it worked. “Are you with the Taliban lady?” said a potential voter when I approached his door. He threatened to set his dog on me.

Somehow those two just don’t seem to match up. I hope Gerlach is wrong and that voters in his district do know who Tom DeLay is and how closely they were associated. I hope that Gerlach doesn’t resort to such awful tactics. I hope that Lois Murphy wins.

Katrina Blog

This is the blog of someone who had family in Mississippi, a town hard hit by Hurricane Katrina. The blog follows his attempts to contact his mom and little brother, and what he found when he went down to get them. Lots of photos, some hard to look at. Keep Kleenex handy.

http://operationeden.blogspot.com/

(via Clublife)

Background on the Newspaper Situation

Many local bloggers have been following the recent announcement of cutbacks on the Inky's reporting staff. For some background on the newspaper biz generally, with some references to the Inky thrown in, read "Fault Line" in the Oct. 10 New Yorker (pp. 51-61). The story is on the Los Angeles Times but some of their top editorial staff worked at the Inky in the past and there is a mention of the newsroom cuts at not only this paper but at others. Very interesting and informative.

Financial Planning Week #3: Changing Your Mind

This being Financial Planning Week in Pennsylvania I am trying to have a daily financial post. (Lawyer note: I am not trained in financial planning and this information is presented for entertainment purposes only.)

A few years ago I read a book that really helped me chance my views on money. I used to see a big house and think "Wow! Those guys must have a lot of money." Now I think "Wow! Those guys must have a lot of debt." Trot over to your local library or bookstore and check out "The Millionaire Next Door." For a follow-up try "The Millionaire Woman Next Door." (For contrast, most of the men were married with a stay-at-home spouse. Most of the women were divorced. Women were more philanthropic than men.)

Most of the people with money, as outlined by these books, do not live in mansions or even McMansions. They live in more modest homes, have one major credit card and one department store card. They clip coupons and don't drive flashy cars.

Once you begin to think in these terms the trappings of wealth become all the more obviously the trappings of debt. It is very liberating.

Another Blogger Sued

PoliticsPA links to this Pittsburgh article outlining the story of another blogger being sued for not only the postings but the comments on his blog.

Financial Planning Week #2: Bankruptcy Rules

As mentioned yesterday, this is Financial Planning Week in Pennsylvania so I hope to have a daily financial post. (Please note that I have no training in any form of financial planning. These posts are offered for entertainment value only. Consult a trained financial planning professional for advice.)

Bankruptcy laws change on October 17th and it will become harder to declare bankruptcy. See this information from the fine folks at Nolo for more information. Wondering how this happened? Check here and here for information on how your congressional representative voted on this issue.

Groceries for Votes?

Capitol Ideas is reporting that state Rep. Peter J. Daley (D-California) is using his unvouchered expenses funded pay raise to hand out grocery gift certificates to senior citizens living in his district. Isn't that like robbing Peter to pay Paul?

A year or so ago I read about a small town mayor who used to take the money he received for officiating at weddings and give it to local charities. He had to stop because it was ruled a violation of some political finance regulation.

An Effort to Save the Children

This week the House passed a resolution to form the Katie Elise Lambert Commission, to study the causes unintentional injuries to children and recommend changes in state law. Sponsors were Josh Shapiro (D-153) and Jerry Birmelin (R-139). The commission is named after a young girl who lived in Shapiro’s district who was killed by toppled furniture. The Senate will hear testimony and vote on it this month.

According to the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics, the leading single cause of death for those in the 1-4, 5-14, and 15-24 age ranges is an accident of some kind. (The second leading cause for those 15-24 is homicide, followed by suicide, equally if not more alarming.)

The word “accident” covers a broad range of causes. Parents are always told not to look away from their young children for a second. I remember a frightening afternoon when the youngest little Jane scooped detergent out of the dishwasher while I was putting dishes away. When I turned around all I could see was a little mouth covered with green. We had the poison control hotline number of the fridge and a quick, frantic call told me how to take care of the situation.

Accident could also mean a fall, a drowning, eating something toxic, taking a parent’s medication that looked like candy, and any number of other things. This commission will take a look at what types of accidents occur in Pennsylvania most often and what can be done about them.

When I heard about this commission I was a little skeptical. It is easy to point fingers at big faceless corporations and say they are to blame. I was pleased to see wording in the commission that implies other factors will be viewed. I wonder how many accidental deaths could be prevented if, for example, parents or caregivers knew CPR. Or had the poison control hotline number on the fridge. Or just had a phone to call someone (the rural poor may not have access to a phone to call for help). You may have read how the simple act of putting babies to sleep on their backs instead of the stomach has cut down on crib deaths. Those little round bald spots they all get on the backs of their heads now are badges of honor, showing they sleep on the backs instead of tummies. Perhaps there are other simple things we can do to further cut down on child accidental death.

Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz has introduced similar legislation at the federal level. This is an excellent example of state and federal officials working in concert on an issue.

Congrats to Reps. Birmelin and Shapiro, and Congressman Schwartz for these useful bits of legislation. I will follow this and let you know what happens.

Financial Planning Week #1: Roth IRA

Whiel PSOTD would like to remind us that this week is Pandemic Flu Awareness Week, in Pennsylvania it is, among other things, Financial Planning Week. In keeping with that I hope to post a daily financial planning tip, with relevant links. I missed Sunday and may miss a few more days this week, but here is today's: (Lawyer note: I am not trained in financial planning or any other aspect of financial work. These tips are to be read for entertainment value only. The intrigued should consult trained professionals before doing anything with their money.)

A Roth IRA differs from other IRAs in that you pay tax on the money as it goes in. People often try to find ways of investing money without having to pay tax on it now, but that usually means you have to pay tax on it when you take it out. There are pros and cons. Those earning good money now may prefer to pay taxes on retirement money when they are no longer working and in lower tax brackets. On the other side, we currently have a relatively low tax rate generally and there is no telling what will happen in the future.

This is one difference. There are others. For more information, talk to a financial planning specialist. For more background, look here and here.

Missing Monday

Other bloggers who highlight Missing Monday (see the Philly Future node for a list) will pick one or two people to feature. This week I'd like to highlight a site, which I will add to my template in the next few days, which keeps a database on missing Pennsylvanians. They are arranged oldest to newest sto see those who have gone missing recently, go to the end of the list.

www.pennsylvaniamissing.com

weekly legislative update

Here are a list of bills passed in either the house or senate this week. I'm starting to look at resolutions as well as the bills. If the resolution has substance other than "Tuesday is Gay Indian Liberation Day" I will include it. (Fans of the old WKRP tv show might recognize that phrase).

As always, the list of sponsors was deleted if it went over 3 lines in the original formatting.

Please note that spyware and privacy concerns show up a couple of times. Some good resolutions passed. More on one of them later.

Our accountant friends at PICPA have also updated their weekly update.

HOUSE

HB 1688 By Representatives BARRAR, KILLION, BALDWIN, RAYMOND, BOYD, SAINATO, BASTIAN, HARPER and SCHRODER. Prior Printer's No. 2150. Printer's No. 2687. An Act amending the act of June 3, 1937 (P.L.1333, No.320), known as the Pennsylvania Election Code, further providing for canvassing of official absentee ballots.

HB 1743 By Representatives MUSTIO, TURZAI, . STEVENSON, DeLUCA, FRANKEL, MARKOSEK, PETRONE, WALKO, BOYD, CALTAGIRONE, DENLINGER, FAIRCHILD, GODSHALL, HERSHEY, LEH, REED, ROHRER, TIGUE and YOUNGBLOOD. Prior Printer's No. 2230. Printer's No. 2741. An Act amending the act of July 28, 1953 (P.L.723, No.230), known as the Second Class County Code, further providing for assessment limits on counties of the second class; and providing for effect of appeal, escrow and payment under protest.

Serial No. 161 Prior Printer's No. 1179. Printer's No. 2744.
A Resolution directing the Public Employee Retirement Commission to study the feasibility of providing State premium assistance to surviving spouses of State Employees' Retirement System members who participated in the Retired Employee Health Program through the Pennsylvania Employees Benefit Trust Fund.

Serial No. 357 By Representatives SHAPIRO and BIRMELIN. Printer's No. 2246. A Concurrent Resolution establishing the Katie Elise Lambert Commission on Child Safety in this Commonwealth.

HB 761 Prior Printer's Nos. 923, 1920, 1992. Printer's No. 2761.
An Act amending Titles 18 (Crimes and Offenses) and 42 (Judiciary and Judicial Procedure) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, further providing for the offense of invasion of privacy; and providing for actions involving products or services used to invade privacy.


SENATE

Serial No. 160 By Senators GREENLEAF, COSTA, LEMMOND, ORIE, EARLL, RAFFERTY, O'PAKE, FERLO, ERICKSON, ARMSTRONG, WONDERLING, WASHINGTON, BOSCOLA and STACK. Printer's No. 1112. A Concurrent Resolution directing the Joint State Government Commission to establish a bipartisan task force with an advisory committee to conduct a comprehensive review of the current status of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) services within the panoply of methods of conflict resolution available in this Commonwealth, to identify relevant best practices in the delivery of ADR services locally and nationally and how to improve conflict resolution in this Commonwealth by incorporating these best practices, to develop a plan for educating the citizens of this Commonwealth about conflict resolution in general and the use of ADR services in particular, as well as ensuring access to all needed ADR services, utilizing best practices and to propose legislation as may be required to implement the proposed plan and advance the use of innovative conflict resolution methods Statewide in the civil courts and in schools, businesses, government, criminal and juvenile justice systems and other community settings.

HB 1261 Printer's No. 1487. An Act amending Title 51 (Military Affairs) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, further providing for deferred motor vehicle insurance coverage.

SB 711 Prior Printer's Nos. 858, 897. Printer's No. 1110. An Act providing for the protection of consumers from having spyware deceptively installed on their computers and for criminal and civil enforcement.

Serial No. 158 By Senators BROWNE, O'PAKE, M. WHITE, EARLL, BOSCOLA, COSTA and ERICKSON. Prior Printer's No. 1086. Printer's No. 1118. A Concurrent Resolution establishing a task force to study the current system for providing services to indigent criminal defendants, to review how other states provide these services and to make recommendations to the General Assembly.

HB 761 Prior Printer's Nos. 923, 1920, 1992. Printer's No. 2761.
An Act amending Titles 18 (Crimes and Offenses) and 42 (Judiciary and Judicial Procedure) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, further providing for the offense of invasion of privacy; and providing for actions involving products or services used to invade privacy.

SB 358 Prior Printer's No. 420. Printer's No. 1141. An Act amending Title 51 (Military Affairs) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, defining "combat zone;" and further providing for limitations in educational assistance program.

SB 682 By Senators KITCHEN, MELLOW, FUMO, LAVALLE, HUGHES, MUSTO, KASUNIC, WOZNIAK, BOSCOLA, FERLO, STACK, COSTA, STOUT, C. WILLIAMS, O'PAKE, LOGAN, TARTAGLIONE and FONTANA. Prior Printer's Nos. 819, 1116. Printer's No. 1143. An Act amending the act of April 9, 1929 (P.L.177, No.175), known as The Administrative Code of 1929, providing for eligibility for subsidized child day care.

SB 867 By Senators TOMLINSON, D. WHITE, LOGAN, COSTA, BOSCOLA, RAFFERTY, RHOADES, ORIE, ERICKSON, GORDNER, WONDERLING, O'PAKE, WAUGH, BROWNE, LAVALLE and PIPPY. Printer's No. 1132. An Act making an appropriation to the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency for the purpose of funding grants under the act of July 31, 2003 (P.L.73, No.17), known as the Volunteer Fire Company and Volunteer Ambulance Service Grant Act.

HB 761 Prior Printer's Nos. 923, 1920, 1992. Printer's No. 2761. An Act amending Titles 18 (Crimes and Offenses) and 42 (Judiciary and Judicial Procedure) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, further providing for the offense of invasion of privacy; and providing for actions involving products or services used to invade privacy.

Ghost Voting

It's tough to keep up with all the issues. It's easy to let one slide as the next one comes along. But, if you recall, we were all in a tizzy last January when the new PA House rules were adopted and they included wording that allowed legislators to be "in the Harrisburg area" and still vote (or give their proxy). I was trying to monitor the daily legislative emails I receive for it to check the actual wording. I didn't see it and have always felt that I wasn't being observant enough. It has bothered me. Those who keep up with the weekly legislative updates may remember a note some time back to the effect that bills may not be reported when they are passed but announced later.

So I am both relieved and upset that HR001 showed up in tonight's email, although it was adopted in late January. Maybe it was in an earlier email, too, maybe it didn't. Hard to say at this point. In any event, here is the relevant paragraph, rule 63:

A member who is either performing a legislative assignment in
2 the Harrisburg area in furtherance of duties of his office or on
3 behalf of the body of the House and to which the member was
4 appointed by the House or the appropriate officer of the House
5 may, upon request to and approval by the member's floor leader,
6 be granted Harrisburg Legislative Leave and be voted by or at
7 the direction of the member's floor leader. A specific reason
8 must be given by the member to the respective floor leader and
9 that floor leader must announce the granting of the Harrisburg
10 Legislative Leave. Harrisburg Legislative Leave shall last no
11 longer than the single legislative session day for which it was
12 requested and shall immediately expire with the return of the
13 member to the Hall of the House. No member will be granted
14 Harrisburg Legislative Leave for a session day, or a portion of
15 a session day, who does not personally vote on the day's initial
16 Master Roll Call. A member is not permitted to request
17 Harrisburg Legislative Leave if the member is the prime sponsor
18 of a bill scheduled to run during the time for which Leave is
19 requested or if the member has filed and intends to offer an
20 amendment during that time.

Interestingly, the rule right after that sets out the criteria for chronic absenteeism and the punishment, provided a set number of legislators will make the appropriate motions. I wonder how often, or if, that rule has ever been put into effect.

Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Meth.....

Remember the story this summer about the escaped convict who took a woman hostage and after they read her copy of "A Purpose-Filled Life" together and she made him pancakes, he turned himself in?

Check out a short, unobtrusive article on page A12 of today's Inky. Turns out she also gave him some methamphetamine. Yep, you read that right. Apparantly she just happened to have some in the house.

I wonder how many households in America have a copy of Rick Warren's book and some meth. Is it just in the spice cabinet? This was one of those news stories that just made me feel old and out of touch.

Train of Thought

In keeping with today's apparant railway-related theme, let me comment on the Dept. of Justice's decision not to fund the technology needed to allow Philly first responders' communication equipment to work underground.

Think Progress put it this way:

Philadelphia is trying to improve its first responder capabilities, but the government isn’t helping out. The U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) has decided that Pocatello, Idaho (population 51,466), needs emergency communications equipment more than Philadelphia (population 1,517,550) does.

COPS denied Philadelphia $6 million to upgrade its first responder equipment so that police officers, firefighters, and paramedics could use their radio equipment underground and in tunnels, which the current equipment will not do.

Albert followed up with his own commentary.

I am in some of those tunnels on a fairly regular basis and would really like to see first responders have the upgrade. They can currently borrow SEPTA equipment that does work underground but if they are down there in an emergency situation, trying to keep track of one, not to mention two, walkie talkies is going to be tough. The other option is to set up a "shouting line" to carry information along. If we all remember playing the gossip game as a kid, we can imagine who effective that would be, especially in case of a fire or crash or something else noisy.

However, I question the use of the word "deny." In most government funded programs a certain amount of money is set aside; no one is guaranteed funding (unless your senator or congressperson is on the right committee and can call in some favors). So it wasn't denied; it wasn't funded. I wish it had been.

However, there has been some insinuation that the smaller cities that were funded, in states like Iowa, Idaho, and New Mexico, for example, don't need such equipment. To that I respond with two words: Oklahoma City.

I think the best thing to do is gather more information, make a more convincing case, and try to get the equipment in the next funding round, or from another agency.

Strainge Things

Yesterday I found myself on a platform on the Blue Line (Market / Frankford). It happens a few times every year, unusual but not unheard of. What was out of the ordinary was the young Asian woman who walked up to me and handed me the earpiece of her cell phone and urgently gestured for me to put it in my ear. Surprise overwhelmed germophobia so I stuck the piece in my ear and said "Hello?" A woman on the other end said the woman whose phone I was on needed to go to a particular station. "She is at that station," I said. The woman who owned the phone nodded and took it back from me. She put it in her ear and went off talking in a language I didn't recognize (I can spot Japanese and Thai; above and beyond that I'm clueless).

Today, on another train, going in a completely different direction, I sat in the same car as a trio, an older woman and two men, who appear to be just passing out of the category of "young men" into just "men," if that makes sense (late 20's, early 30's). (There is an entire passage in one of Thomas Hardy's novels on this division, but I forget which book it is in and have digressed enough already.) They were talking religion, Catholicism to be exact, and the woman would lose herself in thought and begin praying or praising aloud. She said it would be wonderful if all the world leaders would raise a yellow rose to the sun and then broke into a song about the Yellow Rose of Peace. It was not objectionably loud, though I could hear it half a car away, and was a lovely song. All the same, you don't often get seranaded on SEPTA.

Years ago, when I was cobbling together a living from two or three part-time jobs, I went to Washington D.C. a couple of days a week for a few months. Usually I took the unreserved Amtrak train. Once or twice the timing of things made the expense of the Metroliner worth the time saved. On one of those trips the train conductor read us poetry, "The Road Less Traveled," by Robert Frost. I wondered if we just had an exceptional conductor that day or if that is the sort of thing that always happened on the Metroliner, a "how the other half lives" feature. I'm still not sure.

New PA-08 Poll

Read it here.

weekly legislative update

Now that the state Senate is back in session (the House picks up this week), the weekly legislative updates are back. To remind you of the ground rules -- these are bills that passed (not were introduced or routed to committee, but passed), in either house this week. The list of sponsors are deleted if it runs over three lines. Only bills are included, not non-controverial resolutions (their offical name), unless they seem particular interesting then I might break a rule and add them in. A brief abstract is included, copied directly from the information the state sends out. You yourself can receive daily email updates by going to the state's web site, going to the legislature section, and signing up.

Our friends at PICPA (the state CPA association) have started up their weekly updates again as well. Please note that the state ethics committee has cleared Rep. Jacqueline Crahalla of charges that she illegally used legislative staff in her 2004 campaign.

Bills that passed the Senate this week:

HB 619 Prior Printer's Nos. 692, 2134. Printer's No. 2656.
An Act amending the act of June 30, 1981 (P.L.128, No.43), known as the Agricultural Area Security Law, further providing for definitions, for agricultural security areas and for purchase of agricultural conservation easements.


HB 875 Prior Printer's Nos. 998, 1173, 2657. Printer's No. 2658.
An Act amending the act of June 24, 1976 (P.L.424, No.101), referred to as the Emergency and Law Enforcement Personnel Death Benefits Act, further providing for death benefit eligibility and for definitions.

SB 450 Prior Printer's No. 473. Printer's No. 1109.
An Act prohibiting price gouging; and imposing penalties.

Philly Mag Disses Bloggers

The October issue of the Philadelphia Magazine is out. I pick it up now and then and this happened to be one of those times. Contrarian Noel Weyrich has a word or two (actually quite a few) to say about the blogosphere's efforts to help solve the LaToyia Figueroa missing person case. He refers to the local bloggers as the Dick Brain Trust (in honor of Richard Cranium). See pages 64-67. It is too new to be online yet so I can't link.

By raising the issue of race, members of the Dick Brain Trust managed to provide their own entertainment for a little while. They briefly got as much media attention as the missing-person case the were trumpeting. In the meantime, poor obscure LaToyia's name finally crossed the lips of Nancy Grace and other cable news demi-gods. Not that it accomplished anything. It didn't help solve LaToyia's murder. But it felt good to the bloggers because the blogosphere is a great big cyberspace circle-jerk.

The big question is why CNN, MSNBC and Fox would roll over for this race-baiting bull. Besides the fact that the race debate provided juicier cable coverage than LaToyia's case by itself, I think that all the Dick Brains out there have cable news running scared. The executives and on-air talent know they are obscenely overpaid for beaming unbelievably dumb stuff into everyone's living room. Now an unpaid band of computer jockeys are making their reputations by pointing it out, however clumsily.

Well, I believe people should say what they think, and certainly Mr. Weyrich has done just that. I happen to disagree with him on a number of points and his language is questionable. A circle-jerk? Are all bloggers male? It is definitely a male-based term. I can think of others words that have a similar meaning that don't carry quite as much baggage. I also question his view that the press attention garnered by bloggers had no effect on the search for LaToyia. He is right that a number of women disappear every year. I think we helped find one of them and the Missing Monday movement may help find more. His view of cable news I can't argue with. And there is no doubt that bloggers, myself included, can be clumsy. It's hard not to be when you are working around job and family concerns.

Young Chicks

I like the New Yorker. You may have noticed that, given the number of times I have quoted it in this blog. Today, though, I am not happy with it.

The mailman delivered the Sept. 26th issues, with a "Fashion Rocks" supplement (fashion + music = style). It highlights a number of musicians, mostly solo performers, but two groups were included. I have listed them here by gender, with their ages. If I had to look up the age elsewhere it is in brackets.

Women
Alicia Keys / 24
Gwen Stefani / [36]
Joss Stone / 18
Destiny's Child / (group, ages 24, 24, 25)
Shakira / 28

Men
David Bowie / [58]
Billy Idol / 50
Tim McGraw / [38]
Duran Duran / (group, one age listed at 43, others described as in 40's)
Nelly / 31
Rob Thomas / 33

Does anybody notice any differences here? Of the five women (or group of women), only one is over 30, and she is 36. Only one of the remaining four is over 25. Of the six men (or group of men), all are over 30, three are in their 30's, the group is in the 40's, and two are 50 or over.

Just looking at the photos, only three of those featured are people of color. Other performers are given paragraph descriptions. I focused solely on the articles of a page or more.

Things like this just really annoy me.

[Note: one inappropriate spammed comment removed.]

Where's My Paper?

The Daily News and the Inky are collectively cutting their reporting staff by 100. Philly Future has a large group entry on this. Tattered Coat also has a good entry. There have been others as well.

I have watched over the past few years as the Inquirer has cut back on reporting in my area. We used to have one reporter for a couple of townships, then it was the general suburban area. Now on Sundays we get a flimsy insert that is primarily written by readers, happy, fluffy news and essays by high school students. All this is well and good but I have no other venue for solid news. There is a suburban weekly but it is not known for breaking big stories.

Bloggers are great and wonderful, but most of us are volunteers and don't have the skills, connections, or time to do the investigative reporting that we all love to quote from.

I stopped watching televised news about six years ago; on the rare occasions that I see it now I'm just put off by the sensationalism and sloppy work. Commentary shows have, by and large, turned into ill-mannered scream fests. I get my news in print.

The daily newspaper has been a part of my life since I knew how to read (okay, maybe not then, but soon after). When I have time I read the city paper, a national paper (WSJ or NYT), and USA Today when traveling. I subscribe, and can tell you the paper hits the driveway usually between 5:30 and 6:00 a.m. On those days, few and far between, that it doesn't come I'm lost. I get the shakes. One morning after a snow storm I went around the street offering homebaked cookies in return for anyone's paper. Mine was buried somewhere in the front yard and didn't surface for over a week.

I can't tell you how many times people have told me they think everything should be free and on the Internet. When things are free and on the Internet they have the substance and consistency of this blog. Good reporters who spend hours tracking down stories and filing freedom of information act forms can't do it on evenings and weekends. They need to get paid to do it. And that means people have to actually buy the papers. Much as I like the local paper's blogs, I like their news reporting better.

We need papers strong enough to buck local politicians, with reporters who know how to do what good reporters do, writers who can write. A city without a robust paper or two cannot claim to be a great city.

If you are reading this and do not subscribe to a paper, please go out and buy one, maybe two.

Congressional District Maps

I'm trying to get a handle on some of these Congressional races and part of that is finding a good map of the district to see where the boundaries are. That is trickier than you might think.

However, I found a great source!!!

Take a look here:

http://nationalatlas.gov/printable/congress.html

If this is our tax dollars at work, they are being well spend (at least in this case).

Buffalo Gals, Won't You Come Out Tonight?

One of the jobs of a parent is to allow children to explore
a variety of interests in a venue that allows them to enjoy
the experience in as safe a manner as possible.

So, once one of the little Janes discovered the Outdoor Living
Network (I think that’s it anyway) and bull riding in particular,
we began to look for ways to investigate it a little further.
For some reason watching grown men being stomped by huge animals
is appealing to my suburban offspring. Mr. Jane asked around
and heard about Cowtown. Before we could make definite plans
to visit, I noticed an ad for the Liberty Pro Rodeo, being
sponsored by the LuLu Shriners, last weekend. On Sunday
afternoon we packed up the family, only got lost once, and found
our way to Plymouth Meeting.

I’ve never been to a rodeo before and found it an interesting
cultural experience. The rodeo riders spend all those hours
practicing and their formal performance lasts from a few seconds to
maybe a minute or two. Most participated in only one event. There
were six events with a “speciality act” in between. A rope
and knife act (British, oddly enough) appeared twice. He was
possibly the skinniest man I have ever seen in my life and his
sardonic humor made a nice foil to the overly enthusiastic
announcer. The main rodeo clown had a dummy with a Saddam Hussein
head on it that he desperately tried to get the bulls to stomp or
charge but with no success. He eventually just threw the dummy on
a bull’s horns. I could have done without the mother-in-law and
fat / ugly girlfriend jokes. The announcer didn’t have a lot of
room to talk, given the amount of overhang on his saddle. Souvenirs
for sale included cap pistols, cowboy hats, dream catchers, and the
like. The one item I saw that peaked my interest was the selection
of “Git-R-Done” hats. (I consider myself a Git-R-Done gal.)

What I noted about this event that I don’t usually see at events I attend was the very patriotic theme. It opened with the national anthem. Flags were a frequent presence. It was definitely a pro-American, but not pro-Bush atmosphere. There were several mentions of the troops overseas but not the administration that sent them. Several times the announcer recalled the Shriners connection, “cowboys ride so kids can walk.” It was upbeat but not quite too “rah rah.” Leftist gatherings don’t have these patriotic draperies quite as often. I don’t recall hearing the national anthem or the pledge when I heard Howard Dean speak. Maybe we need to get the red, white and blue bunting out more often.

Note: This entry posted twice so I deleted the duplicate.

DFA Straw Poll Top Ten

Earlier this month I wrote about a straw poll DFA was having for congressional candidates. The preliminary votes have been tallied and they are down to a top ten. Two Pennsylvanians, Lois Murphy (PA06) and Patrick Murphy (PA08) are in the list. You can vote for up to three candidates. Take a moment and click the mouse for the home team.

http://tools.democracyforamerica.com/housevote/

Keeping Up With Politics

In anticipation of the congressional races next year (and to avoid writing or saying anything really stupid before then), I copied the Philly area pages out of CQ's Politics in America 2006. If you aren't familiar with this source stop by your local library and take a look. I plan to quote from it or refer to it often.

Those of you who prefer online resources might want to check out D.C.'s Political Report. I have added a link to their PA page on my resources list.

Also, I've added a new blog, Philadelphia Will Do to my blog list. (via A Smoke-Filled Room).

weekly legislative update

Even though the legislature isn't really back at work yet, they are still shuffling paper, routing bills to committee and such.

The Value of a Congregation

From the Sept. 12th New Yorker. Malcolm Gladwell, "Letter from Saddleback: The Cellular Church," pp. 60-67, we find this passage, on page. 62:

Ram Cnaan, a professor of social work at the University of Pennsylvania, recently estimated the replacement value of charitable work done by the average American church-- that is, the amount of money it would take to equal the time, money, and resources donated to the community by a typical congregation -- and found that it came to about a hundred and forty thousand dollars a year. In the city of Philadelphia, for example, that works out to an annual total of two hundred and fifty million dollars' worth of community "good;" on a national scale the contribution of religious groups to the public welfare is, as Cnaan puts it, "staggering." In the past twenty years, as the enthusiasm for publicly supported welfare has wanted, churches have quietly and steadily stepped in to fill the gaps.

That's a lot of nickels in the collection plate.

Driving Late at Night say

Everyone has those touchstones, be it a song or image or something else, that grab your guts and turn a black and white scene into color or make the world at that moment safer.

One of mine is those rare instances when I am driving down the road late at night, usually alone, in the country so there are lots of stars, and Woody Guthrie comes onto the radio singing "The City of New Orleans." It doesn't happen often, maybe a handful of times, but it always grabs me when it does. Lately the song has been on my mind. Wonder why.

Update: Someone emailed to say they think it was Arlo and not Woody Guthrie. I did some checking, a quick check, not an exhaustive one, and cannot find any mention of Woody recording the song, so I will stand corrected that it was Arlo. Still a good song.

The President's Address

I watched President Bush’s address from Jackson Square in New Orleans. My emotional response was “boy howdy, that man is running scared.” I can’t imagine him coming out and giving this speech unless he had taken a look at his approval ratings and been alarmed at what he saw.

Normally the president uses a lot of hand gestures and facial expressions to augment his words. Nothing wrong with that. I do it a lot myself when speaking in public. I do think the president tends to go overboard with it. However, this evening he was remarkably restrained, at least at the beginning of his talk. You barely saw his hands and his expression was grave. I think someone must have sat on him forcefully. His use of gestures increased the longer he spoke and his facial expressions became more varied. It’s hard to change your delivery style, especially as you move further into a speech, so I think we saw his more natural style coming out more towards the end. It isn’t a very presidential image, though; something I thought came across very clearly in the debates.

I can’t speak with any authority on historical precedent or current policy so I will limit my remarks to his use of language. I’m not a trained linguist but I do earn a part of my living with words and am viewed, in my own small sphere, as having a good feel for them. It was clear that he had employed a skilled speechwriter. The allusions and phrasing was beautifully done. There were a few “huh?” moments, but not many.

“a cruel and wasteful storm” -- an interesting use of anthropomorphism. Storms cannot be either cruel or wasteful, but the second adjective is the most unusual by far. Certainly one might think of nature as cruel, especially in this case, but wasteful? You might say a storm laid waste, but wasteful is an unusual word here and it jumped out at me as not quite fitting in.

“vulnerable people left at the mercy of criminals who had no mercy” – very nicely done, good alliteration, it trips off the tongue. Also nice was his story of the homeowner who took in the looters. It some ways it sounds Biblical, but it also reminds me of a chapter of Les Miserables I had to read in college French class, wherein Jean Valjean steals something from a bishop who befriended him. When the police catch him and take him to the bishop’s house to check his story that the stolen items were gifts, the bishop gives him the valuable candlesticks too.

“the American people expect the work done to be done honestly and wisely” – well, that is a hopeful statement. I imagine the American people expect dishonest politicians and cagey businesspeople to get as much government money in their own pockets as possible while spending as little as possible on actual rebuilding. What we would like, and always would like, is for someone to knock a few heads together if anyone is caught at it. For more detail, see the Philadelphia corruption trials and use of airport contracts as personal favors.

“deep persistent poverty” – a good description

“take the side of the entrepreneurs” – a nice homage to the bookstrap American businessperson that we all like to hear about. Note who has gotten the contracts so far – Halliburton, et al. I also wondered if this phrase would, in the long memory of a region that views the Civil War as recent history, bring to mind the image of the carpetbagger. May not have been the best choice of words.

“everyone should find their role and do their part” – another homage to the can do American spirit. The armies of compassion have indeed been mobilized and it is a wonderful thing to see. The armies of scam artists are also on the move. It is always thus.

“I as president as responsible for the problem and the solution.” It was wonderful to hear. This sentence more than any other in his speech led me to believe that he was running scared. From all the news coverage I have seen to date (and I only saw a little), the federal authorities were pushing blame down the ladder as fast as possible.

“the despair of any touches us all” – a lovely thought and one that we all want to be true. I’m spoiled, though, having heard Barack Obama’s speech and the Democratic convention. I think he said the best version of those words I have ever heard.

These are my thoughts. I will leave it to the pundits and spin artists to decipher the speeches meaning and presidential historians to judge its long term value.

DFA Straw Poll

In the email inbox, a note from DFA:

This week, Democracy for America is hosting an online vote to determine which congressional candidate will receive our first DFA-List endorsement of 2006. The vote is open to all challengers and open seat candidates. The candidate with the most votes at the end of balloting will receive a DFA-List endorsement and a national e-mail from DFA's Chair Jim Dean.

The voting will take place in two stages. First, we will hold an online vote ending on Saturday, 9/17 at 5:00 pm Eastern Time to narrow the field of candidates down to the top ten. For the second round, we will hold an Instant Run-off Vote among the top ten candidates to determine our first endorsement of 2006.

To place a vote go to:

http://tools.democracyforamerica.com/housevote/

Six Pennsylvania condidates are on the ballot:

Chris Carney PA-10
Lois Herr PA-16
Lois Murphy PA-06
Patrick Murphy PA-08
Steen Porter PA-03
Paul Scoles PA-07

My Newest Obsession

Those inclined to mental or math puzzles will love Sudoku. I just learned about it this morning and can see it is one of those meaningless, useless things that tickles my brain and that I can actually do.

Hoeffel on "It's Your Call"

Joe Hoeffel was a guest this evening on "It's Your Call with Lynne Doyle." It was the first time I had ever watched the show. It is likely to be the last. There were four guests, in addition to Doyle. The guests were:

In the studio:
Edward Turzanski
CN8 National Security Analyst
Political Science Professor, La Salle University
Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy Research Institute

Bill Pascrell, III
CN8 Political Analyst
Contributor, CN8's "Who's Battling Bill?"

Joe Hoeffel
Former U.S. Congressman

Out Of Detroit, MI:
Debbie Schlussel
Conservative Columnist

Debbie Schlussel behaved in an extremely rude and obnoxious manner. It always pains me when the one non-white male guest is easily identifiable as someone who will, without a doubt, look bad. She made the show difficult to watch and no doubt difficult for the other guests to participate, not to mention her rudeness to callers. I deleted her website URL from the guest list because I don't want to provide her with any more press than necessary.

In any event, hometown boy Hoeffel presented himself well. One of his talking points (mentioned a number of times) was that FEMA worked under Clinton but it was "broken" under Bush. He mentioned a 25 year right wing effort to tear down government, and that FEMA was underfunded. He mentioned that the neglect of people in New Orleans was not racism but classism, a neglect of those without a lot of resources or status. Another point mentioned was that there did not appear to have been a plan, at a number of levels, for dealing with such a situation.

I was taking notes on his remarks and not paying close attention to anyone else's and I missed the first 10 minutes of the program.

One other gender-related note, there was an announcement at the end of the show crediting the business who had provided Lynne Doyle's jewelry. Has anyone ever heard of this being done for a male "journalist?"

More PA-08 Democratic Do'ings

Robin Wiessmann has decided not to run in the Democratic primary. (via politicspa.com)

Paul Lang, one of the three Democrats who has announced a candidacy, wants to point out that he was a member of Vice Admiral Thad Allen's staff while working for the Congressional Hearings Team in Washington, D.C. Allen is now heading the recovery efforts and government response for Hurricane Katrina.

weekly legislative update

No bills were passed this week (or, to be more accurate, no bills were reported as having passed this week), although some were shuffled around to committees.

Bye Bye, Bob and Larry

It happens to all parents; kids go through stages, and passages of life. In our house we recently boxed up all the Veggie Tales videos and gave them away, along with the stuffed animals of the characters, including Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber (the civilian identity of caped crime fighter Larry Boy). I’ve spent years in the company of Bob and Larry, and their friends, Junior Asparagus, Madame Blueberry (my personal favorite), and the French peas. The writers were clever enough to include cultural allusions the parents might get. The French peas’ parody of the Monty Python French castle guards was great, and I melted at the sight of the U.S.S. Apple Pies, complete with Scottish engineer.

But all things come to an end, and so our house is now Veggie Tale free. School is starting and everyone (especially Mom) is a year older. The supplies are bought, the backpacks packed, the clothes laid out and the lunches planned. On the first day of school the playground was full of assorted parents bravely smiling but inwardly wailing “My baby!” in an almost palpable way, as if our offspring were being shackled and led off to the mines instead of walking in a orderly line into an air conditioned suburban school. The little Janes are always excited and eager. I vomit and break out in a rash. The clump of hair that fell out and left a small bald spot (not noticeable but still somewhat worrisome) is new this year. Who knows, maybe it’s ringworm.

In part all this anxiety is because the school is like a fortress and the doors clang shut with my children inside. If you think politics is machiavellian, you’ve never dealt with a school system. I’ve had more individual face time with my state rep than with the principal of my kid’s school. Think maneuvering through party politics is tricky? Try the PTA (I know most of them aren’t called that anymore, but it’s what I grew up with.) I have an easier time getting a call back from my federal Congressional representative’s office than the head of the school board. It’s harder to get into the school district’s administrative offices than my safe deposit box. I’ve stood closer to Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Arlen Specter than I have any three members of the school board. You get the idea.

Update: the kids, as you might have expected, are fine. The rash hasn’t gone away yet, but I’m hopeful. My hair is starting to grow back. The letters announcing who made the cut to be room parent have gone out but nothing has shown up in my mailbox yet, so I fear that I fell short here, as in so many other areas. [sigh]

Castor Out of the Running

This is hardly news but I hadn't seen real concrete statements on both races. Bruce Castor, Jr, the Montco DA, has decided not to run for either governor or Congressman for the 13th district next year, according to an article in the Sept. 7th Times Chronicle (not online)by Margaret Gibbons, who writes for a number of smaller local papers. An interesting excerpt:

Montgomery County GOP officials recently received poll results that indicated that there is little likelihood that any Republican, including Castor, will be able to unseat Democratic incumbent Gov. Ed Rendell, according to two GOP Sources

Also, in a face-off with Democratic incumbent Allyson Y. Schartz for a congressional seat that serves voting districts in both Montgomery County and Philadelphia, an early poll shows Schwartz would get about 48 percent of the vote to Castor's approximate 20 percent, a source said.

Castor's state senator, Rob Wonderling, has only been in office a few years, and has a lot of support, but state rep. John Fichter is around 70 and has been in office for 12 years, maybe he'd be ready to step aside. With the big pay raise, maybe state office would be more appealing. Of course, there's always county commissioner....

PA-08 Update

Earlier this month I provided an update to some earlier posts. In that post I remarked that I had contacted the Patrick Murphy campaign to let them know I had mentioned the candidate, and that I hadn’t received a response. In truth, since I’m not a constitutent or a donor, it wouldn’t be that odd for my email to get lost in the shuffle. However, Murphy’s new campaign manager, Josh Nanberg, sent me an email over the weekend, and a response to my response on Monday (a holiday!). Murphy himself also sent an email. That is above and beyond the call of duty.

The Murphy campaign also sent me something in the mail late last month. In the letter it points out Murphy’s military experience, as well as his legal experience. These points have been mentioned in the media a number of times. What I hadn’t known was his involvement in the Bucks county Veterans Committee, the Ancient Order of Hibernians, and his local parish planning committee. Regular readers will know I always like to see local hands on attention to community matters. It is one of the best ways of finding out what is on the voters minds on a regular basis, as opposed to one shot townhall meetings (though those are very important also), and seeing how the community works together (or doesn’t).

Murphy is looking good in my book.

The Paul Lang campaign let a comment on a recent post to say that a copy of his appearance on Air America Radio is available at:

http://electlang.blogspot.com/2005/08/paul-lang-to-appear-on-national-radio.html

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Eating Our Young

I've written several posts about the recent legislative pay raise and the unvouchered expense fund used to collect the increase before it actually takes place. To make matters worse, Bill DeWeese, House Minority Leader, replaced Democratic sub-committee chairs who voted against the increase with other Democrats who had voted for it.

In today's Inquirer, Larry Kane (whom I'm not normally a big fan of) writes an editorial on this. One paragraph in particular jumped out at me:

Two young Democratic represntatives from Montgomery County, Josh Shapiro and Michael Gerber, voted against the pay raise and refused to take them early. DeWeese can't take away their committee chairman posts, because they don't have any. But these are two freshmen who won upset victories against Republican opponents. They are already going to have a hard time retaining their seats. If they lost constituent service funds, they will be weakened politically by their own party leader. Figure that!

He goes on to point out that it is hard enough to find people willing to run for office, without having to worry about being stabbed in the back by their own party. I've looked at Shapiro's work for an earlier posting on some legislation he (and others) introduced on creating a statewide articulation agreement among state funded colleges and universities, allowing students to transfer from one school to another more easily. He has also made child safety, especially reducing the number of children who die in household accidents, a priority. He's a young man with a long political future in front of him. He took a stand for his beliefs. We need to encourage more like him to run, not toss him to the curb.

I've also written about Greg Vitali, who has not only lost the chairmanship of an energy sub-committee (he's been involved in energy-related issues for years), but also seen some cuts in constituent services money. Vitali is a good guy.

Come on, people, can't we do better than this? There's another year before election season on the state house heats up. We have to keep talking about this, keep it fresh in the minds of all voters. It's important.

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Labor Day Labors

Last year on Labor Day I took a big garbage bag out to the kids' elementary school and picked up the playground. Thinking it would be a good tradition I did the same thing today. Some other people or facilities employees must have been keeping up with it over the summer because there wasn't that much trash around, mostly some soda cups and cans and straws. I took the little Janes and they played on the swings, etc. while I worked. The easiest most efficient way to pickup a large area is to mentally mark out a grid and walk it, up and down, eyes on the ground scanning just up ahead of my feet. I must look like a lunatic. This year, like last year, there was another parent with kids out playing, one last time before the school year starts up next week. It's a nice opportunity to talk with a parent that I wouldn't otherwise meet.

It is these little things that help me keep my equilibrium. When something like Katrina happens it is easy to feel helpless and overwhelmed. By doing my small part to keep my corner of the universe tidy, and making small contributions to the world at large, I can add another timely piece to the puzzle, a hurricane relief donation at Rite Aid, care packages, a small donation to Red Cross, and go on my merry way. The Red Cross is made up of an army of individual volunteers, just like you and me. So are all other large and small scale organizations and groups everywhere. Pick up a broom and find yourself a few small spots. It can help you keep your sanity when unbelievable craziness erupts around you.

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Missing Monday

The Disenchanted Forest has a group of "Missing Monday" photos and information. Please take a look.

Hurricane Relief, Kid Style

Sure enough, many denominations have set up a variety of options for Hurrican Relief. Mr. Jane and I are making a cash donation, but also plan to involve the little Janes. If you prefer the hands-on method, or have a group of friends that get together or can get a bunch of friends together, you can pack "flood kits," or, more importantly and more needed right now, "health kits." You just need to put a bar of soap, a washcloth, some nail clippers, toothbrush and toothpaste, and a few other things. Put them in a big plastic bag and you're set to go. We are going to have the kids each pack a couple of health kits.

For complete instructions and the address, as well as other options, take a look here.

Katrina's Ken Kesey (Without the Drugs or Merry Pranksters)

I originally saw this story on CNN but can't find that link now, so here's the story from the Houston Chronicle. A young man (CNN said 18, Houston says 20) either found an abandoned bus (CNN) or was told to take it by police (Houston), drove out of New Orleans, picking up around 100 people along the way and drove them to Houston's Astrodome where they were refused admission for about 20 minutes until authorities decided to let them in. This is a great story to read! A magic ride indeed.

The Last Supper Lunchbox

This is apropos of nothing, but I've been looking everywhere for something the kids could use in their lunch to keep something hot/warm until lunchtime, you know soup or leftovers or spaghettios or whatever. Sporting goods stores -- no. Camping stores -- no. Searching online I found www.lunchboxes.com. bingo! They have two versions, stereotypically gender designation (the green slime design under "boy," the pink butterfly design under "girl"). While at the site I also browsed their lunchbox selection. They have something for everyone, including, I kid you not, a Last Supper Lunchbox, just perfect for someone who wants to take a footlong hoagie for the midday meal.

Things Fussbudgets Think About

I don’t know if the “Think Globally, Act Locally” bumperstickers are still around but these are things that have been flitting around in my brain lately:

Hurricane Relief

While we are all focused intently on the situation at present, we need to be thinking and planning ahead. The refugees currently in the New Orleans stadium need to be moved, some of which will be taken to the Texas football stadium, others to other locations. They will probably be there for months. Other than food and needed medical supplies there will be many other needs. School supplies and school clothes will be needed in a week or so. Clean clothes and basic toiletries for everyone (soap, deodorant, toilet paper, tampons (in some cases), toothbrushes and toothpaste, shampoo, combs, brushes) will be needed for everyone. Not just for a few days but for the long-term future. Right now the Red Cross probably prefers that people donate funds so things can be purchased in bulk, so please donate. Some people will be able to stay with relatives in other parts of the country. Someone I know has a relative in hurricane territory and has offered to house their children for the school year so the parents can focus on rebuilding their lives without that extra worry. For others, though, there is nowhere else to go, and no one else to turn to.

I had already started stockpiling washcloths and bars of soap for Samaritan’s Purse Christmas shoebox campaign. I imagine there will be something similar here for those still in shelters. If you are a knitter, pick up a few extra skeins and some knitting needles (maybe the round plastic ones instead of the metal, in case there are security guidelines). Someone who knits for relaxation may be going stir crazy and those supplies are not likely to be included in the standard relief package. If you are in a toy store or a general retail store, pick up a board game, a pack of cards, a jigsaw puzzle. If you received something like this yourself but never used it, make a note of where you’ve put it so it can be passed on. Don’t throw out your old coats or sweaters; put them in a bag in the closet, provided they are still in good shape. Ditto with books, especially the ones in good shape. I imagine a makeshift library or informal book sharing system will be one of the first informal social networks set up (right up there with clothing sharing networks). By all means, donate as much as you can to the Red Cross now, but keep the holidays in mind. By then people will really be getting cabin fever. If it turns out such an effort isn’t required you can donate things to nursing homes, VA hospitals, homeless shelters, Toys for Tots, and so on.

Why think ahead and plan for this now? Because compassion fatigue will set in and by the holidays, and certainly after, we may have all emotionally moved on. It is human nature to do so. Because of their organizational structure and mission statements, national religious and civic groups will probably be tapped or volunteer to take on specific tasks. If it hasn’t already happened, there is a conference call going on somewhere to decide which denomination is collecting soap and which one is collecting toothpaste, or if everyone should pack complete “hygiene kits” (we do this for international missions and so have practice) and whether the Lions should continue to send used eyeglasses overseas or give the hurricane survivors first shot. These are the boring aspects of life that keep things actually going. This is part of the safety net.

Local Action

Mr. Jane gassed up the cars on Monday in anticipation of higher gas prices. Last night we sat down and figured out how we could manage on a daily basis without using our cars at all if there is a fuel shortage. We aren’t the only ones. Chris at Rowhouse Logic is doing something similar. Ma always told me to try to find living quarters within walking distance of public transportation, a grocery store and a laundramat. We are less than a mile from some form of each, in some cases much less, and less than a mile from the kids’ school.

We tend to buy nonperishables in bulk so we have a lot of bottled water (for school lunches), toilet paper, paper towels, cereal, canned soup, pasta, and such stored away. We have a freezer full of frozen veggies and ground beef. At any given time we could survive on what is in the house for a couple of weeks. It wouldn’t be fun but we could do it. One of my hobbies is quilting so we have enough quilts and laprobes around the house that if we got them all out this winter we could set the heat even lower than usual at nights. (I’m in survival mode not only because of the hurricane but because the water is off again today so I filled up some jugs last night for cooking and the cat dish.) One of the blessings of living in a house is that is usually means more storage space.

Our street doesn’t have a town watch or an official block captain. I’m the “luminaria queen,” though, and sometimes serve loosely in that capacity. (A local business provides luminaria supplies on Christmas Eve; volunteers set them up. If you do this sometimes your neighbors think of you as the block captain.). As such, I’m wondering if we could help the area save gas if everyone brought their garbage cans and recycle bins to one central location so the trucks don’t have to go all the way down the street (there’s no outlet on the other end). We have some elderly people, but their neighbors could do “can” duty for them. I wonder if there are other economy measures that streets and neighborhoods can take.

If you have children in school, keep in mind that Oct. 5th is Walk Your Child to School Day. Can parents get together and work out ways that kids could walk safely to school? In my school district children are forbidden to ride their bikes to school, due to theft and safety concerns. It might be time to revisit that, with fuel prices skyrocketing. School buses are not exactly energy efficient.

These are the things I think about, late at night, when I’ve finished worrying about the kids, the mortgage, world hunger, and whether I should just buy larger pants or aggressively try to lose weight.

Examples of Leach's Blogs

You may not be able to visit Rep. Leach's blog right now, and the Internet Archive doesn't have a listing for his site, but Google, my dear friend Google, comes up with a number of items if you search for leachvent; simply click on the cached copy link. Because I believe in going to the source whenever possible, I looked at four of these postings, and offer them to you here so you can come to your own conclusions.

stem cells

vacation tips

Seattle conference

bachelor parties

Daylin Leach

I am SOOOO glad Daylin Leach isn't my state rep.

I tried to visit his blog to confirm the postings quoted in the story and see the overall tone of his blog but was rerouted to Yahoo. I tried in two different browers with the same result.

Just as a tip to any other male legislators who want to try their hand at blogging, women voters may not find it funny that you ask women if you can see their "ta tas" and I, for one, don't want to hear about your "jimmy" either.