Barletta Beats Down in Debate

Lou Barletta proved himself to be well scripted in last night's debate, and he didn't seem to hold back any punches either. He certainly surprised me by portraying himself to be a well informed candidate.

Uncle Paul, however, had a central theme: "I did many things in the last 22 years. Anything good that came out of Congress was solely my idea. I deserve credit for all the good ideas. But for all the bad things that came out of Congress I had nothing to do with any of it."

The high point of the debate was when Uncle Paul also showed off his illustrious ignorance (and I'm paraphrasing here): I am Paul Kanjorski. I've been in Congress for so long that I have my own stall in the men's room and my but cheeks left a permanent mark on my seat. I can do whatever I want, get whatever I want, and give you whatever I want because I have been around for so long. If you're not aware of how Congress works, I'll tell you. It works on seniority. Even if you think you don't want these things, I know better than you and I know you want me to continue to provide you with all the goodies like an inflatable woman (I mean damn), wasteful project spending like we see at the cesspool (Susquehanna waterfront), and a choo-choo train to New York City (of course I'm only blowing smoke here). Lou Barletta won't be able to get you any of these things as a freshman Congressman.

Paul Kanjorski is out of touch and he has to go. Initially, I wasn't crazy about Lou Barletta and I still think he'll be a puppet in Congress (to be re-elected he will have to be one for a while), but Lou proved to show himself to be somewhat of a quick learner last night impressing upon me that he knows more about what's going on on the Federal level than just the problems caused by lack of illegal alien reform. After watching last night's debate, I feel more comfortable with Lou as a representative for the 11th District.

My predictions for the three major races on Tuesday

McCain and Obama will be a very close election, decided under a 5% margin. This one's still too close to call. My guess is that Obama will win with a slight advantage unless McCain pulls some major miracle out his ass. Obama has the media behind him, and the voters either are just too stupid to recognize that Obama's not ready to lead or just don't care because they really feel that he's the chosen one and that Biden's a prophet.

Kanjorski will lose to Barletta by 8-13%. Uncle Paul made a series of errors in his campaign, including waiting too late to get aggressive, going over-aggressive, and failing to show up at key appearances. Barletta's been busting his rear end being out in public and is gaining ground. The only chance Kanjo has is if the voters in the 11th push the "D" button like they did in the last 2 Congressional elections (A number of local voters called in the Sue Henry show admitting that they forgot that they wanted a republican but were just too accustomed to hitting the D button).

Carney will beat Hackett under a 10% margin. Hackett's campaign in the general, much like the republican primary races in the 10th, was just a disgrace. He just didn't run a strong enough campaign.

Kanjorski Chicken!

Paul Kanjorski skipped out on a forum with Lou Barletta last night, claiming he had a scheduling conflict.

Please repeat after me: *Cough* *Cough* *Bullshit* *Cough* *Cough*

Uncle Paul's proving himself to be another Washington elitist who's too good to be speaking with the people. But don't expect an apology from Uncle Paul. Remember what the NEPA's democrat dictator (Let's call him dick for short) said: "I don't apologize to anyone!"

I'm not a fan of Lou Barletta. I can't pull the lever for someone who doesn't understand the Constitution. At the same time, Uncle Paul has to go. In this race, (fortunately, I don't live in the 11th) I am undecided. I'm not convinced that Lou Barletta will be the independent republican he is painting himself to be. His lack of knowledge of the Constitution leads me to believe that he will have to rely on other GOP representatives in DC on key issues and eventually cave into the in-crowd if he is to get anything done. If he doesn't cave in, he will be a one-termer should he beat Uncle Paul.

Paul Kanjorski isn't really pushing to win this election. I don't think he knows how to fight-and-win a re-election campaign. He thinks as long as he outspends the other opponent, recycles old ads, and portrays himself to be busy by not keeping public engagements (it's a farce: he repeatedly cancels engagements where he is scheduled to appear to make himself look like he's busy working for you in DC when in reality he is afraid of confrontation), Uncle Paul thinks he can win and get away with blowing our tax dollars like a call girl on coke.

Paul Kanjorski's out of touch. If he wants to win this election, he's going to have to make some appearances and actually debate his opponents. I'm curious though as to why he doesn't debate: does he think he's too good, or is it because he's too afraid?

I-80 toll issue is DEAD!!!!

The Times Leader reported that the Federal Highway Administration rejected the notion that I-80 should be tolled.

"The Federal Highway Administration said its decision to reject that plan was based, in part, on questions about whether the amount of money that would be paid by turnpike commission to the state Transportation Department was based on an “objective market valuation” of the highway.

“There is simply no evidence that the lease payments are related to the actual costs of acquiring an interest in the facility,” said Tom Madison, the federal highway administrator." (Times Leader, 2008).

In other words, Fast Eddy Rendell's proposal was shut down by the feds because the revenues from the tolls did not match up to what the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania wanted to spend on the roads. In other words the Federal Highway Administration saw this as a porkbarrel fund, which goes to what I was saying when I ran for office:

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania generates sufficient revenue from gas taxes and other sources of funding to maintain its roads, but wastefully spends those funds. Perhaps governor Rendell and Pennsylvania state lawmakers should learn how to be more responsible with tax dollars rather than creating an additional burden on taxpayers... I am against penalizing taxpayers for the legislators’ misuse of tax dollars.

The Federal Highway Administration made the right decision, but Ed Rendelliberal is still pushing for a solution to cover the cost of road improvements while writing blank checks to his buddies. Ed, as an accountant, let me give you some advice on how to feasibly solve the problems with PA roads:

• Stop writing blank checks to your cronies
• Stop using funds appropriated for road improvement for other things, like scarfing down cheesesteaks (on our tax dollars) before an Eagles game
  
• Stop pushing for infrastructure development legislation on the basis that you're "eventually going to get the money". This kind of mentality (I'll write the check now and hope I get paid in time for it to clear) in accounting and business lingo is known as the inability to control cash flow - it's a fancier way of saying you're mishandling our money - and this is the same kind of mentality that causes many small businesses to go out of business. Bigger companies that make this mistake open themselves up to bankruptcy and fraud charges. I wonder what will happen to our state if Eddy keeps making this problem recur - It's a rhetorical question, folks. He's going to blame the republicans for the flaws in his own policies.
• Cut wasteful spending, and you'll find ways to afford the infrastructure repair.
• Increase the tax base by investing in economic development: bring in more businesses, bring in more jobs, and you will have additional funds without raising taxes.
  
• Roll over fat boy and put someone who doesn't like pork in charge.

At least we have some bi-partisan applause of the fed's decision:
U.S. Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski, D-Nanticoke: “I applaud the Federal Highway Administration for rejecting the application to toll on I-80. As I have said before, tolling on I-80 would negatively affect residents throughout Pennsylvania, but especially those in the Northeast. We must invest in projects that will benefit Pennsylvanians, and tolling on I-80 would have done just the opposite. I appreciate the effort of the Federal Highway Administration to review the application and appropriately deny tolling on I-80.”

Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta, R-Hazleton: “As Mayor of Hazleton and a member of the Alliance to Stop I-80 Tolling, I am very pleased to learn that the Secretary of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration have decided against the tolling of Interstate 80. The affects of tolls on I-80 would have been terrible for Hazleton and the surrounding area. The businesses, consumers and visitors to the area all would have suffered as a result.”

State Sen. Lisa Baker, R-Lehman Township: “If this proves to be the end of the misguided attempt to toll I-80, the federal rejection comes as a major relief to area motorists, workers, and employers. Because Pennsylvania cannot afford to back away from the obligation to fix dangerous bridges and repair deteriorating roads, the search must begin for a more economically acceptable and fiscally responsible way of funding transportation improvements. The lesson from this is that it is too large a burden to put on just one part of the state. We must take the time to do it right – rushing to unload the Pennsylvania Turnpike, without extensive details publicly disclosed and without public support earned, will likely be substituting one bad decision for another.”

4th Teen in trouble over killing of an illegal alien

I first heard of this story on PA GOP insider's blog. Before coming to any conclusions, I decided to do a little research of my own on this case. Here are the facts as they are presented:

On July 12, 2008, 4 teenagers beat up an illegal alien from Mexico to a pulp in a street fight, somewhere in an alleyway in Shenandoa (AKA Shendo). Two days later, the man dies. Two of the boys are most likely to get away with lesser charges, one may face up to 40 years in prison, and the other one may end up being tried as an adult.

The liberal media somehow avoids the fact that the late Luis Ramirez is an illegal alien, but doesn't hesitate to acknowledge the fact that he has 3 kids and a fiance (all living here in the US - nothing indicates whether they live here legally or not). Court records and a few journalists indicate that he was an illegal. What is not known is how the fight started: it is only assumed by the leftist media that these caucasion high school kids decided to just gang up on Mr. Ramirez. Until the actual trial begins, no such presumptions should be made.

The liberal media and leftist bloggers are going out of their way to pound on Lou Barletta for his fascist stance on illegal alien reform and blame him for the death of Luis Ramirez. The leftists are blaming Barletta for what happened in Shendo, which happens to be a good 35 minute drive from Hazleton, where Lou Barletta is mayor. While I don't agree with the way Mayor Barletta decided to handle the illegal alien problem in Hazleton, he cannot be blamed for something that didn't occur in his own city, let alone county. First, Lou Barletta never promoted the use of violence to solve the problems with illegal aliens in Hazleton. Second, the problems that are occurring in Shendo have been continuing for over a decade. The city government and law enforcement officials within Shendo have been reluctant to be proactive in doing anything with racial tension in the city. The mayor of a town 35 minutes away from Shendo has nothing to do with the way Shenandoa's government is run. Third, when violence breaks out as a result of racial tension, people generally know to blame racist/supremist groups for brainwashing kids with their propoganda. No links between Lou Barletta and such groups are known to exist.

I don't see how Lou Barletta can be blamed for this, but one can use the snowball argument that if he wasn't so tough on illegal immigration reform in his own city they wouldn't have migrated to Shenandoa. The problem with this argument is that it would be difficult to prove and illogical to say that every illegal alien who left Hazleton moved to Shendo - you can't even state that a significant percentage moved there.

Aside from defending Lou Barletta, I only have a few more things to say about this case. The first one is that the city of Shenandoa and the city law enforcement officials failed to do anything about the illegal alien issue for years, and the lack of effort by the city has lead to a vigilante effort to remove the illegals. When your government does nothing, fed-up citizens are forced to take the problems into their own hands.

Lack of appropriate legislation exists to address the issue of illegal immigration on the federal level. The citizens want something done about the issue, but our government continues to prove itself to be one failure after another with respect to its people. Not doing anything is just as bad as doing the wrong thing.

Higher gas prices, higher unemployment, and lack of jobs are turning the illegals into scapegoats in cities like Shenandoa for hate groups. If it isn't evident yet, it soon will be. Coupled with the lack of government effort to resolve this issue, illegal immigration will become an even bigger disaster.


The media - without knowing all the facts - have already labeled this a hate crime. Again, we don't know what the facts are and should reserve judgment for when all facts are presented. It could very well be a hate crime, but there are other possibilities. For example, it is possible that Luis Ramirez instigated the fight; that there were more than the 4 kids on the one side involved and 1 illegal alien involved on the other side (could it be that Mr. Ramirez was hanging out with other illegals in the alleyway taunting the kids?); that Ramirez had a weapon, etc. Until all the facts are known, nothing should be presumed.