Category → Government Of the People…
Global warming: When it’s cold, when it’s hot. Can’t be wrong!
Global warming AKA Climate Change AKA Bad Humans Bad Americans Bad Capitalism, can’t be proven wrong.
We had a cold spring. Evidence of climate change, some say.
When it gets really hot this summer, it’ll be more evidence of human-caused global warming.
The data show a 19-year cooling trend. But that might be further evidence that humans are causing Global Cooling.
What’s lost in this debate is the fact that measurable, empirical amounts of pollution and health risk do happen and can be stopped or mitigated. But stopping pollution is boring. Global crises are much sexier.
Shame.
Say what?
“Never put in writing something you aren’t ready to see and defend in a newspaper,” is an old adage governing good government.
In other words, be prepared to be held to what you write, especially if it’s in government emails.
If there’s one thing I am proud of, it is my willingness and ability to stake out earnest policy positions. Nothing wishy washy on this blog. But don’t ever expect to find racism or personally belittling comments here. Or in my emails.
It’s often painful to see people held accountable for their mistakes. Then again, it’s often a necessary result of having caused unwarranted pain to other people.
With great power goes great obligation and responsibility. When these basic rules of conduct are forgotten, inevitable chains of events are uncorked.
Now that we’ve seen it here in Pennsylvania, wouldn’t it be pleasing to see it in Washington, DC, too?
Got Gas?
Gas royalties paid to land owners from the development of the Marcellus Shale have amounted to $731 million in Pennsylvania in the last year alone. The Allegheny Institute for Public Policy says that the $731 million is a 6,600% increase from five years ago.
Got gas? Hope so!
1972
Can’t you just hear the voice now?
“Arrrr..Iiiiiii…I am not a crooookkkk”
Funny how that echo is getting louder and louder
Good news for American farmers, food consumers
America’s farmland is not only the cultural heartland, it is the bread basket of our nation.
You know the old saw: No farms, no beer. No farms, no food. No farms, no watersheds, and on and on…
So let’s ask: When our flat farmland is built on, will America import tainted, contaminated food from China? Will America become food-dependent, too, on top of importing most of our transportation fuel? What kinds of vulnerabilities come with being so dependent on others, especially on nations and people who do not share our values or ways?
So it brings me great satisfaction to see Andrew McElwaine become the new president of American Farmland Trust (http://www.farmland.org/news/pressreleases/2013/AFT-New-President-Andrew-McElwaine.asp).
AFT is America’s premier farmland preservation advocacy group. I knew Ralph Grassi, AFT’s founder, from way back in my Washington, DC days. Ralph was able to narrate his own family’s farmland preservation efforts and reasons, and he had charisma, too, so when AFT testified before Congress, or held a farmland preservation event, elected officials from both parties listened, and acted, and the public dug deep into their wallets.
Since Ralph left AFT and returned to his family ranch in Marin County, California, AFT has been on a slow, quiet identity quest that culminated with financial challenges that could be ignored no longer.
Enter Andrew McElwaine, probably America’s best non-profit turnaround guru with a conservation streak a mile wide. Andrew’s bio is easily available online, so I won’t expound upon it here, but what should be noted is that he has turned around or dramatically grown both the Pennsylvania Environmental Council and the Conservancy of Southwest Florida. Heading to Washington, DC, brings him back into the conservation policy world he knows and loves so well, and gives him an opportunity to work his financial magic once again.
American farmland needs an advocate. Andrew McElwaine is the man for the job. At a time of tight finances and faltering, struggling non-profit conservation groups, Andrew’s arrival at AFT is an unusual breath of welcome and needed good news. Now saddle up, pardner, ’cause the ride ahead is gonna be long and hard…
Cascade Effect
When a snow avalanche plows over a mountainside, everything in its path falls, breaks, bends, severely, or gets swept under and away.
Avalanches do not happen all at once. First there’s a little spill of snow at the top. That bumps something larger down below, and so on. A cascade effect gathers momentum, and pretty soon the whole shebang is blasting full steam ahead.
Such is the state of the administration in Washington. Historic scandals at the IRS, Dept. of Justice, State Dept., and so on are building up steam. Partisans are ignoring them all, pooh-poohing them, hoping voters don’t pay attention. But eventually, that cascade will reach its full force.
Framing the Issue, Defining the Person
Although I spend most of my work time with muddy boots out in the field, I obviously have a passion for government policy and issues. My college and graduate school degrees are in government (and economics, and statistics, and history, and…and…), so “big issues” have always motivated me. And thus, I write about them.
As a sound policy advocate, I am always wrestling with framing an issue or defining the person behind an issue, say, in a public race for office.
One of the aspects of this process I am getting better at is understanding what motivates someone else who sees it differently than I.
And here is my conclusion: Power, power, and more power over decisions, resources, and people is what motivates the vast majority of people who take a stand on something. Especially in politics.
Take, for example, last week’s decision at the Boy Scouts of America. In my mind, the decision to allow gay people is not an issue. After all, how would I know someone is gay unless they tell me? I could not care less about who is gay, or straight, and in fact I enjoy the presence of a number of gay people because they are funny, smart, and entertaining. I have nothing against gays. But what I do have an issue with is talking about sex with my kid, and who does it, and why.
And so, the political advocates of being gay say they have a right to talk about their sexual preferences any time they want, and I respond that now I know how women feel when meatheads make stupid comments that can be construed as sexist or come-ons. There is just zero room for discussing sexuality or sexual preferences in public or with kids not your own. And so I frame this issue naively, thinking it is about what is best for kids (knowing that adults who also object to having sexuality pressed upon them can take refuge in myriad anti-sexual harassment laws).
Every kid should have a sex-free zone drawn around them. And yes, talking about your sexual preferences is S-E-X-U-A-L.
And thus are parents like me unfairly defined as bad, bigoted, evil, cruel, etc. The issue has been framed in a way that automatically makes us “bigoted” if we disagree, thereby removing our ability (power) to defend our ideas. But I prefer to frame it in a way that protects kids, my kids, from being sexualized. And thus, I will stand my ground and say “leave the kids alone.”
Gay people who want to hang out at my house and debate this, or have dinner, or play cards, are welcome any time we know you are arriving.
Happy Memorial Day – and a big Thank You to our service members
Memorial Day is supposed to be about remembering those who served and died for our freedoms.
We all take our American freedoms for granted. I do it, you do it, it’s such a good lifestyle that it is impossible not to enjoy it casually. But we enjoy it because of the sacrifices of those who picked up a weapon to protect us.
Thank you to those who died, and those who continue to serve in harm’s way. We appreciate all you do.
Election Day is Nigh
Election Day is Nigh
By Josh First
Three political races are of consequence where I live: Mayor of Harrisburg, Dauphin County Judge (Court of Common Pleas), and Susquehanna Township school board.
Like all elections, this one is important, and unlike all elections, this one is also uniquely of little consequence. Here’s why:
The mayor of Harrisburg has been reduced to an almost figurehead role, because the state is running the city. Yes, the mayor’s desk is a bully pulpit, if you want it to be. But don’t count on many people listening, because the city is broke, broke, broke, and a long time will pass before its citizens feel like things are going right. Harrisburg’s school district is largely out of reach of the mayor’s office, and it requires open heart surgery to bring it back to life before it taxes everyone to death.
Bottom line: No matter who is mayor, it isn’t going to matter a lot right now.
Several candidates are vying for the Democrat nomination. Reportedly, Louis Butts has just been caught defacing Eric Papenfuse’s signs. Personally, I like Louis a lot. But, scratch that candidate, right?
Eric Papenfuse is possibly an intellectual, but he is smitten with terrorist Bill Ayers, and so probably a lightweight. Going against Papenfuse is an op-ed he wrote a couple years ago, lamenting that the poor black kids of Harrisburg might actually get a useful education (vocation) at SciTech, instead of the hard-far-Left issues indoctrination that street organizers prefer their soldiers to march to. Papenfuse is a wannabe plantation owner. Good luck with that one, Harrisburg!
Then there is candidate Dan Miller, a smart guy, a hard working guy, who has tried to hold the line on irresponsible spending. Dan has taken to showboating once in a while, which elected officials can do, but he has also demonstrated careful thinking, and an autocratic streak a mile wide to go with it. Some developers have been rubbed the wrong way by Dan’s style. The Harrisburg Stonewall Brigade have been rubbed the right way. Stallions may become the next de facto Mayor’s office. The owner of Stallions, Mickey Shefet, is one of Harrisburg’s best, hardest working, and most dedicated businessmen, and he deserves a break for having invested in the city for so many years. Go Dan!
Finally, Mayor Linda Thompson is an outspoken woman of faith, an attribute sorely lacking in these modern days. I have worked with Linda on the Tree issue, and she is much smarter than people know. She is also carelessly outspoken on many other issues, some of which matter to city taxpayers. Her “scumbag from Perry County” line shall be etched in Central Pennsylvania infamy for generations, and has already spawned a cellar bootleg T-shirt industry among the proud denizens of that beautiful county. Like those who wear the “Infidel” T-shirt in Arabic across their chests, many Perry Countians are proud to wear Linda Thompson’s most famous line, in camouflage, of course.
Waiting to take on the Democrat nominee is Independent Nevin Mindlin, a long-time professional with fantastic government credentials and a kindly, nerdy disposition that I find magnetic. Mindlin is my choice to run the cit-tay.
The second race is for judge. Democrat Anne Gingrich Cornick appears to many political observers to be a magical creation of Judge Scott Evans, a Republican whose behind-the-scenes power is legendary. Cornick cross-filed as a Republican, reportedly also at the urging of Evans, whose claim to President Judge once more has not necessarily been completely bolstered by the candidacy of two other Republicans, Bill Tully and Fran Chardo.
Both Tully and Chardo are stand-up guys (I have written about their race previously), and I would like to see Chardo gain a few years before he sits in judgment of anyone like me. Tully has the seniority, seasoning, broader experience, and disposition necessary for a good judge. Chardo has the political establishment contacts, so this otherwise-boring judge race may actually be pretty exciting. But the outcome is that the county will get a good judge, no matter which Republican wins.
Finally, Susquehanna Township’s school board is being rocked by racial politics that no one wants to talk about and which threaten to turn Harrisburg’s famously stable, integrated suburbs into a bitter political war zone.
Leading the charge is Coach Jesse Rawls. Rawls was one of the first black wrestling coaches in America, and for that he has my undying admiration. But his emphasis on stocking the school district with skin color and not necessarily with talent is psychotically destructive and, well, it’s racist. Coach, I admire you greatly, and you have also disappointed me terribly, because of all people a wrestling coach knows the value and importance of individual merit and accomplishment. Especially a black wrestling coach in Central Pennsylvania.
Skin color never won a wrestling match, but emphasis on excluding skin color has cost America plenty, so my choice in that election are Bruce Warshawsky and Robert Marcus. Both Bruce and Bob are emphasizing a color-free focus on academic excellence. What other criterion do taxpayers want in teaching? Excellence in all things should be the only thing anyone cares about, talks about, or votes about. Sadly, even if Bruce and Bob win, they will likely be outnumbered by other school board members who see life through skin-tinted lenses, thus limiting their influence on district hiring criteria.
And so, as they say in Chicago, dear friends, vote early and vote often!
IRS and US State Department Spying On Citizens
That Sad, Unimaginable Moment Has Arrived
By Josh First
Incredible as it may sound to some people, and I admit to being naive enough myself that I did not see this coming, proof is out that the Internal Revenue Service and the US State Department have been spying on US citizens and using their official capacities to crush Constitutionally protected political dissent.
American citizens who disagree with Obama administration policies have been targeted by the IRS with intrusive questions and audits designed to either collect information to be used against them, or to intimidate them into dropping their non-profit status and political activities. Simple citizens, non-profit groups, businessmen, have all been targeted by the IRS in a patently illegal effort to stifle dissent. Christian groups, Jewish groups, better-government groups, all targeted with crushing audits designed to open up the groups and expose their members and financial sources to potential faux criminal charges, or to intimidate them into submission and compliance with policies they are against.
The US State Department has now been caught recording phone calls by US reporters and whistleblowers, including retired military officers and civil servants long released from their confidentiality obligations. News reporters being targeted by the government? Sounds like efforts to silence news reporting, right?
This isn’t normal behavior for a US government. At least it is not supposed to be normal. It is not acceptable in America. All of this behavior and activity is illegal on its face, contravening most of the US Constitutional rights and all of the many court holdings designed to uphold those rights. Similar efforts in the 1950s were used to try and shut down the civil rights movement. President Richard Nixon was impeached for crimes much less intrusive and less far-reaching in the 1970s.
Deafening silence about these illegal activities by my friends on the left means only one thing: They are in politics to win by any means. As discouraging as that is, it is reality, and again, I admit to being naive enough to think that kind of behavior is not generally accepted outside of certain small, very narrowly focused political circles.
And so, the moment has come to do what must be done, what in America might be called “the nuclear option.” And that is impeachment of a sitting president, in this case Barack Hussein Obama.
The newly unveiled crimes of this administration are monstrous and demand an adequate response. Nothing short of impeachment will suffice. Democracy, freedom, liberty, and government of the people, by the people, and for the people require it if we are to survive as a unified nation.