Get the reference in the title? The Monty Python Spam sketch? It's the kind of thing that aging geeks like myself find highly amusing.
Anyway, I got a comment on Youtube for my video about the health care reform proposals. Youtube marked it as spam. Just out of curiousity, I did a Google search on one of the phrases from the comment, and got more than 6,000 hits.
I guess some intern at a lobbying firm somewhere had a busy summer.
I was talking to state Rep. Eugene DePasquale, D-West Manchester, a little bit earlier about Ted Kennedy. We agreed that he's a guy who really defied expectations.
This is from the office of state Rep. Eugene DePasquale, D-West Manchester:
Interesting. I got this e-mail today from the Joe Sestak campaign. (I'll post the text in just a minute.)
Sestak is the congressman planning to run against U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter in the Democratic primary. Pat Toomey is the conservative Republican whose likely primary challenge convinced Specter to switch from Republican to Democrat earlier this year.
What I find interesting is that both appear to have formed a tacit agreement to gang up on Specter. Interesting, but not surprising.
Here's a video I made to explore the controversy surrounding end of life counseling. Is it me, or are sock puppets a sorely underutilized tool for political discourse?
From the office of state Rep. Seth Grove, R-Dover township
HARRISBURG - Rep. Seth Grove (R-Dover) will host a series of town hall meetings over the coming months to hear the concerns of residents of the 196th District.
"My primary duty as a state representative is to vote on behalf of the people of this district," said Grove. "These meetings offer an opportunity for citizens to express their concerns and voice their opinions. I consider that kind of direct interaction a necessity in our representative democracy, and I am looking forward to hearing what the people have to say."
Residents do not need to register in advance for the meetings, which are all scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. on the following dates:
Thursday, Aug. 27: North Codorus Township Municipal Building, located at 1986 Stoverstown Road in Spring Grove.
Thursday, Sept. 3: Warrington Township Municipal Building, located at 3345 Rosstown Road in Wellsville.
Tuesday, Sept. 22: Heidelberg Township Municipal Building, located at 6424 York Road in Spring Grove.
Tuesday, Oct. 13: Jackson Township Municipal Building, located at 439 Roth's Church Road in Spring Grove.
Wednesday, Oct. 14: Dover Township Municipal Building, located at 2480 W. Canal Road in Dover.
Wednesday, Oct. 28: West Manchester Township Municipal Building, located at 380 East Berlin Road in York.
Thursday, Nov. 5: Paradise Township Municipal Building, located at 82 Beaver Creek Road in Abbottstown.
For more information about the town hall meetings or Pennsylvania state government, contact Grove's office at (717) 767-3947 or visit RepGrove.com.
OK, it's not the most substantive political protest I've ever seen. But what the hell, it's cute.
By the way, when I picked up the embed coding on Youtube, this was the first comment -- reproduced exactly:
thats so dam fake the lady probably taught him that barack obama means "no" or "off"
So apparently the dog isn't really rejecting the treats over its ideological objections to Barack Obama's policies. Wow. The Internet's just chock full of geniuses, isn't it?
This was originally how I was going to start this post ...
"Members of the state Senate, where Republicans have a majority, are going to try to override Gov. Ed Rendell's earlier vetoes to get parts of the state budget passed."
Yeah, that's an accurate and concise description of what's going to happen. But I wouldn't blame anyone for reading it and saying " What the ... huh?"
Short explanation: The budget for the new fiscal year still isn't passed seven weeks after it was due, because of an impasse between the Democrats and Republicans in Harrisburg over state spending.
But all the underlying parliamentary moves and countermoves might be kind of confusing by now. Let's see if I can translate this into some approximation of coherent English.
During a speech before the Veterans of Foriegn Wars conference in Phoenix, President Barack Obama reiterated his commitment to fighting Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, calling it a "war of necessity."
Oh yeah. Afghanistan. For a while there, so much debate centered on Iraq that Afghanistan felt almost like an afterthought.
In a lot of debates about the proposed federal health care reforms, I hear the word "unconstitutional" getting thrown around. It's usually in a context of: The U.S. Constitution doesn't say that the government can provide health coverage, therefore any attempt to do that would be unconstitutional.
I don't want to get into the debate over health care reform right now, so much as address the whole concept of "unconstitutional."
Sorry if the blog seemed lackluster this week. I threw out my back on Monday, and I've been scurrying out of here early all week to ice it. I'll be back to my chipper self next week.
Just a couple of brief observations before it's scurryin' time:
1) Still no state budget. I've got a story coming out Sunday about how a lot of agencies that get state funding are starting to get antsy. Not having a final figure from the state nearly two months after the budget was supposed to be passed is causing them some major accounting headaches.
2) The folks who brought you the Teabag protests are marching again. Here's some news from the local contigent:
Here's a blast from the past: Jan. 10, 2007
Hello? Metaphor abuse hotline?
Journalistic smartasses like my colleagues and me have been having a lot of fun with a recent editorial in the Investors Business Daily to the effect that Obama's health care plan would create a big system of state-run eugenics.
It uses the United Kingdom's health care system as a cautionary example, statiing:
"People such as scientist Stephen Hawking wouldn't have a chance in the U.K., where the National Health Service would say the life of this brilliant man, because of his physical handicaps, is essentially worthless."
The joke, of course, is that Hawking is a lifelong resident of the U.K.
When discussing this with colleagues, I speculated that the editorial writer might react to that news by saying "What? But he doesn't have an accent!"
Man, I crack myself up!
Local Congressman Todd Platts has endorsed Congressional colleague Jim Gerlach for the governor's race next year.
A lot of observers are saying that Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett is the safest bet as next year's Republican gubernatorial candidate. But now I have to wonder.
Platts endorsed John McCain as the Republican presidential candidate back in March of 2007, when McCain appeared to be an extremely long shot for that position. So give Platts credit -- he can pick 'em.
Here's the announcement.
In a rare instance of recent good news for state workers, the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire issued the following statement (proclamation?) today. It's not a regular paycheck, but what the hell ... it's something.
I hope "Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth I" doesn't end up in an impasse with Senate Republicans. Then again, I guess political disputes in her time were generally resolved by decapitation, so a lengthy budget standoff seems unlikely.
Anyway, here it is ...
Sarah Palin plus William Shatner equals comic gold.
When I interviewed U.S. Sen. Arlen specter, D-Pa., last week during his visit with york County Democrats, he made a crack about the fact that U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak hadn't yet formally announced his candidacy.
That changed this morning. Sestak is officially in the race, taking on Specter in the Democratic primary.
I've got a lot on my plate this morning, so I'll analyze (ie: jabber on about) the implications of this later.
I've written a lot about Specter lately, so I guess it's only fair to give Seatak his moment. You can read about him here.
I spoke to state Rep. Keith Gillespie, R-Hellam Township, tonight. He said he got an e-mail from his caucus leaders, calling for a meeting of the House Republicans tomorrow morning. They hinted that the Democrats who comprise a majority in the House and the Republicans who make up the majority in the Senate may have reached a compromise on the state budget.
If so, it's about freakin time. Approximately 77,000 state workers didn't get their paychecks on Friday because of the budget impasse.
I also spoke to state Rep. Eugene DePasquale, D-West Manchester. He said that even if they don't reach a budget compromise, the state lawmakers should come up with some kind of interim measure to pay state workers.
I agree whole-heartedly. Those 77,000 people and their families don't deserve to be pawns in a political game.
I just read that former state Senator Vince Fumo, who is preparing to serve 55 months in federal prison on corruption charges, will not get his $100,500 annual legislative pension.
Sorry. I have to stop typing this entry because it's too hard to see through the tears of sympathy that are welling in my eyes.
