Graham's in Terrible Shape....Just Pass the Damn Thing for God's Sake!

On Monday, Democrats in Harrisburg held up funding for the four state-related universities and The Old Main Government Bribery and Cajoling Unit sprung into action as doctors rushed to the Schreyer House to attend to Graham's skyrocketing blood pressure.  A letter was sent to state lawmakers with the urgent message, "Graham's in terrible shape....just pass the damn thing for God's sake!" Ok,not quite, here is what they wrote, (via)

This has been a most difficult budget season, and it is safe to say that no one is entirely satisfied with the budget bills you will be asked to vote on over the next several days.  It is important, nonetheless, to complete your work this week by making sure that the non-preferred bills are passed in a timely fashion — that is, before the end of the fiscal year.

It did the trick, the Dems folded.  Local Democratic representative Scott Conklin said through his spokesman that he didn't want the guilt of being responsible in someway for Graham's stroke..... if you read between the lines, that is.

State Rep. Scott Conklin, D-Rush Township, had said that he would not
support any state budget unless it included level funding for Penn
State. But the letter from DiEugenio and DiRaimo "has certainly affected
his thinking," Conklin's chief of staff, Tor Michaels, said earlier
Tuesday.

Michaels said Conklin would give the correspondence some weight.

And everyone lived happily ever after....well, at least until the tuition bills go out.

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Democrats in Harrisburg are trying to Slowly Kill....

....Graham.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is reporting today that

State funding for the University of Pittsburgh and three other
universities could be in jeopardy as Democratic lawmakers flex what
little muscle they have in a Capitol controlled by Republicans.
Democrats are rebelling against a GOP cuts to the state-related
universities, the only spending bills that require a two-thirds vote of
each chamber.

"There isn't any doubt that this is the one place where Democrats can
wield some power. It's the one place where they do have leverage," said
G. Terry Madonna, political scientist at Frankin & Marshall College
in Allentown. "This could get very dicey."

Democrats are threatening to use their votes to get Republicans to
allocate some of an estimated $650 million surplus to state-related
universities as well as other education and health programs.

But if Democrats block passage, Pitt, Temple University, Lincoln
University and the University of Pennsylvania could wind up with
nothing.

I'm guessing that about now  Graham is  wishing that he followed his dream and joined that circus right out of high school.

[Update 6/27/2011 10:18 pm: The Dems blocked passage of funding for the state-related universities this evening.  No word on Graham's mental and physical states.]

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This Should Scare the Shit Out of You....And Motivate You....

Steve Benen, one of my favorite bloggers and who you should definitely be reading, conceived of this and his friend Bill Simmon put it together.

FYI

From the Patriot-News:

....Democrats will send Vice President Joe Biden to State College on Tuesday to rally young voters at Penn State event.

Happy Labor Day

As a Labor Day treat, I give you a real rabble rousing  speech from someone who stands firmly  against excessive  corporate profits and tax cuts for the wealthy and for wage growth, Social Security, unions, fair employment practices and  federal school lunches.

I Guess E. Howard Hunt is One of His Role Models

I'm sure you remember James O'Keefe the clown that filmed those ACORN videos last year which showed some bad judgment on the part of ACORN employees, but no actual lawlessness.  Well, he's in the news again and this time it appears that  the law was broken.  The trouble for James is that he's the one breaking the law.

Alleging a plot to tamper with phones in Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu's office in the Hale Boggs Federal Building in downtown New Orleans, the FBI arrested four people Monday, including James O'Keefe, 25, a conservative filmmaker whose undercover videos at ACORN field offices severely damaged the advocacy group's credibility.

Also arrested were Joseph Basel, Stan Dai and Robert Flanagan, all 24. Flanagan is the son of William Flanagan, who is the acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana, the office confirmed. All four were charged with entering federal property under false pretenses with the intent of committing a felony.

I fell so baaaaaaaaad.....not.
Technorati Tags: James O'Keefe, ACORN, felony, wingnuts

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Jon Stewart Captures My Frustration Perfectly

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Mass Backwards
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

Technorati Tags: Jon Stewart, MA-Senate

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Six Degrees of ....

...Glenn Beck's Colon.

This is John Stewart at his very, very best.

Technorati Tags: Daily Show, John Stewart, Glenn Beck

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We Have Your Students and Unless We Receive the Money...Well You Don't Want to Know...

Spring semester tuition bills are set to go out soon and the Penn State and the other state-related universities still haven't received their appropriations from the state. Will tuition go up come January? That's what the presidents of the state-related universities suggested in a letter to House Speaker Keith McCall (D-Carbon). I guess the answer will come in the mail very shortly.
Technorati Tags: Pennsylvania Budget, Penn State, Tuition, Spanier

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John Stewart on Fox News: It's a Perpetual Revulsion Machine

What's wrong with Fox News? If you don't already know this video presents a case study and lays out the case beautifully.

Technorati Tags: John Stewart, Daily Show, Fox News

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CNN Your Network for Goat F#cking

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
CNN Leaves It There
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Ron Paul Interview

If you wonder why so many people have no clue as to what is going on in health care reform, this Daily Show clip will help to give you some clarity.

Technorati Tags: Daily Show, health care reform, CNN,

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GT a Man with All the Smarts of W

GT is upset that we haven't started any offshore drilling following the lift on the moratorium at the end of Bush's second term. He explains that there is no reason  not to and the concerns about the environment are misplaced. He recycles a Bush era talking point to bolster the claim.

He disputed claims that off-shore drilling poses environmental problems.

One need look no further than Hurricane Katrina, when oil rigs off the Gulf Coast escaped any damage, despite potentially damaging winds and flood waters which ravaged coastal communities including New Orleans, he said.

The worst environmental disasters related to oil or natural gas occur when they spill while being transported over water, he argued.

Oh yeah, GT?

The US coastguard, which is responsible for the marine environment, said yesterday more than 6.5 million gallons of crude oil had been spilt in at least seven major incidents. The previous worst spill in US waters was the 11m gallons in Alaskan waters from the Exxon Valdez in 1989.

"This is a major event," said Lieutenant Colonel Glynn Smith of the coastguard in New Orleans. "Things are going well, but three-quarters of the oil from the spills has not yet been recovered."

So if you liked the Bush years, I'm sure you love GT.

Technorati Tags: Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-PA5), offshore drilling

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GT, a Dim Bulb That Shines Only to the Right

Late last week in a press release our congressman Glenn "GT" Thompson was full of praise for CBS News for the latter's manure spreading effort.

U.S. Representative Glenn `GT’ Thompson today praised  CBS News, which reported the Administration’s real estimate of costs per household for the Cap and Trade legislation.

There are a  few thing to correct in this opening paragraph. It really wasn't "CBS News" doing the reporting. It was CBS News libertarian  cyber-correspondent  Declan McCullagh. Second, the report didn't concern the cost of Waxman-Markey, the Cap and Trade legislation currently under consideration, it considered an early proposal by the Obama administration.

GT goes on to quote McCullagh.

“The Obama administration has privately concluded that a cap and trade law would cost American taxpayers up to $200 billion a year, the equivalent of hiking personal income taxes by about 15 percent,” according to CBS reporter Declan McCullagh.  “At the upper end of the administration’s estimate, the cost per American household would be an extra $1,761 a year.”

Which leads GT to ask,

How is the average American household going to pay for this added almost $2000 a year?” ...  “How are my constituents, in some of the lowest employment areas in the state, supposed to pay for this?”

GT, GT,....GT, you really have to read Waxman-Markey which

...would establish a more limited carbon market, distribute most permits for free to polluting industry, with provisions that compel utilities to pass along their value to ratepayers, and provide further assistance for low-income consumers.

Perhaps GT will someday explain why he doesn't have similar concerns for his constituents when it comes to the very real skyrocketing cost of health care. In the meantime,  you can read more about what's wrong with McCullagh's report and McCullagh himself here.

Technorati Tags: Rep. Glenn Thompson (R.PA-5), Cap and Trade, Waxman-Markey, Obama, Declan McCullagh,

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An Annoucement on the Pennsylvania Budget is Imminent

The following comes from the Harrisburg Patriot-News

Gov. Ed Rendell plans to make an announcement at 8 p.m. and it has been confirmed that he will be announcing a budget deal.

[...]

The roughly $28 billion deal contains at least one new revenue source at the governor's insistence beyond what was in the plan crafted last week by leaders of the House Democratic and Senate Republican and Democratic caucuses, according to a source.

Technorati Tags: Pennsylvania budget, Rendell

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Somewhere in State College There's a Retired Prof Sitting in Front of His Computer Screen...

... muttering, "what the fuck?"

This is hilarious. The woman in Micheal Balsam's video shown shutting  down his show is  identified, in this blog post by Balsam's boss Matt Hurtt, as faculty member  Becky Miller. I'm guessing that would be this Rebecca Miller, Staff Assistant VI Student Affairs. Not quite a faculty member....it gets better.

He's sent Miller  an email protesting her actions and posted an email address suggesting that other do the same. But the email address that he posts is for Professor Emeritus of Engineering Science and Mechanics, Russell Messier.

Technorati Tags: stupid winger tricks, Penn State, CampusReform

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CampusReform.org Comes to Town

Some guy named Micheal Balsam put up a table and tent the other day in front of the HUB and video taped his efforts to sign up students for a firearms club (h/t Andy at Onward State). His show was shutdown by  campus authorities, which,  of course, he video taped.  He posts  some of this  video to YouTube with a complaint about his first amendment rights being abridged.  I love Andy's response to Balsam's whining over at Onward States.

You’re allowed to yell and hold signs, but setting up structures on private university property is illegal.  Otherwise, the Willard Preacher would preach from a replica of Noah’s Ark.

There are two other videos on his YouTube channel. One is also shot in front of the HUB with him doing the same schtick over abortion and another was shot at  Slippery Rock University.

Balsam doesn't show up in the Penn State student directory or the local phone directory.  So who the hell is he and why is stirring things up here in Happy Valley?

A clue can be found on his YouTube channel. One of the four subscribers to his channel  is CampusReform.org.

CampusReform.org  is a new social networking site for college conservatives affiliated with The Leadership Institute,  an old school inside the beltway outfit which trains conservative hacks. Its founder,  Morton Blackwell,   is close to the center of the web known as the vast right wing conspiracy, with  roots going  back to Barry Goldwater's 1964 presidential campaign.  Blackwell  got his start in politics with the College Republicans and  as Franklin Foer reported in the New Republic a few years ago, "Republicans learn their dirty tricks from practicing on one another," as College Republicans.

The mission statement of CampusReform.org begins

CampusReform.org is designed to provide conservative activists with the resources, networking capabilities, and skills they need to revolutionize the struggle against leftist bias and abuse on college campuses.

It has pages set up for colleges across the nation where students can report on sordid   "left wing" stuff going on at their schools.

Balsam, the non-Penn Stater,  has an account at CampusReform.org  under the Penn State Main Campus page,  but he isn't just some dimwitted schmuck inspired by the Teabaggers that happened to sign up.

Balsam is a Leadership Institute Field Representative, also known as an outside agitator.

It should come as no surprise that he also has an account on the Slippery Rock page and I'm sure on other Pennsylvania college pages as well. I'm not going to waste my time digging down that hole.

Other than snitching on campus leftists, CampusReform.org has a whole lot of suggestions for budding Karl Roves. Here's one that any Penn Stater with a bit of historical memory will get a chuckle out of.

Do liberal activists control your student government? How many hundreds of thousands of dollars have these leftist sucked from your student fees? Do the student government officials claim to speak for the entire campus community as they force the advancement of their leftist ideology? It’s time to fight back! Regain control of your student government! The Leadership Institute will teach you how.

The last time the College Republicans took control of student government at Penn State things didn't work out too well for them.

Pictures posted on the personal Web site of College Republicans chair Brian Battaglia spurred a strong response from student groups and university officials yesterday, with some calling for his resignation.

The photographs, taken at a private Halloween party at Battaglia's apartment, show multiple students in what Battaglia called "controversial or politically charged costumes," which included portrayals of Undergraduate Student Government (USG) Vice President Takkeem Morgan, an "oversodomized frat pledge," "sorostitutes," a "liberal hippie" and a member of the Ku Klux Klan.

[...]

..Battaglia called unrelated reasons, he resigned as a USG town senator early Wednesday morning, before these events transpired..

The bottom line is that CampusReform.org is a new organization, but it has  a deep pocketed, well connected, smooth patron in Morton Blackwell. While it has superficial resemblances to a  clownish David Horowitz operation, Blackwell's track record suggests that CampusReform.org has the potential to be far more dangerous.

We on the left should be prepared to go head to head with  CampusReform.org  before it grows too strong.

Technorati Tags: Penn State, CampusReform.org, Micheal Balsam, outside agitator, wingnuts, Morton Blackwell

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"The University of Wyoming is facing protests over...

...its decision to name a center for international students after Dick Cheney, the former vice president, who donated $3.2 million that was used for the program..." I don't know...I think The Richard B. Cheney International Student Detention Center has a rather nice ring to it.

Technorati Tags: Cheney, humor, protests, University of Wyoming

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"They Took Prayer Out of the Schools --- Replaced It With Drugs"

I've been looking around for video of Arlen Specter's town hall meeting in State College this morning. This video from Salon is the only thing I've found so far.

Technorati Tags: Specter, Town hall, mob, State College,

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For Centre County's Teabagging Ronulons

This is for you guys.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Healther Skelter
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Spinal Tap Performance

Ok, I know it's a bit unfair to characterize all of you as mindless followers of Ron Paul. Some of you are mindless followers of Glenn Beck.

Technorati Tags: health care reform, town hall meetings, mobs

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From The You Can't Make This Stuff Up File

The Glenn Beck inspired wingnut group out of the southwestern part of Pennsylvania, Southwest T.E.A. Party, is sponsored by a chiropractor and a psychologist. I'm guessing that both of those businesses thought that there would be a lot people in this group who easily get bent out of shape and would need their services.

Technorati Tags: wingnuts, teaparties, townhall meetings, healthcare

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