Random Thoughts on a Rainy November Night

A few things this blogger thinks about while recovering from political overload.
Warning: sensitive readers may find a few of these ramblings disturbing.

• Go Saints Go! The New Orleans Saints really need this win against the Packers. Games like this one are the reason I LUV MNF. These days I just skip the intro. :-)
  

• I think that everyone who loves football is happy for both Aaron Rodgers and Brett Favre but Tony Kornheiser really has to stop wearing his man-crush for Favre on his sleeve.
  

• Also on the subject of football, a sociopath designed the BCS Standings in order to torment football fans into thinking that we're too stupid to understand the system. The rating system makes no sense to anyone in football and I'm sure that fans everywhere would have no problem with seeing it abolished by an executive signing order. If President Bush would sign the order now and lock the BCS Standings creator in Guantanamo he could still save his legacy.
  

• A final thought on football. I hope that the Philadelphia Eagles aren't imploding. I'm not a big Eagles fan but I was really looking forward to Thursday night's game against the Cardinals. Maybe the Detroit Lions will be entertaining. LOL Can you say thank God for trytophan?
  

• Moving on. I guess that my boycott of the series "24"is over, at least until Jack tortures someone again. Maybe the show's writers have found redemption.
  

• I've actually spent nearly three whole days without hearing the name of the Governor of Alaska. Of course, I was mostly watching football, movies and home improvement shows. In fact, I completely tuned out any news on politics. There's only so much a person can take of the "What will Hillary Do?" and "Why the government should or shouldn't bail out the auto industry." From time to time a person just has to jump off the merry-go-round and block out the noise.
  

• I'm going to spend most of my time between now and Inauguration Day researching all of the issues for which I'm going to hold the President-elect and the 111th Congress accountable. And I do plan to hold their feet to the fire.
  

• Can someone read my 3,000+ emails to me while I sleep? And while they're at it, shred my snail mail.
  

• I really like the new site design of Congress.org. It reminds me that I need to do a full holiday site overall for my badly neglected main site PointofView316.
  

• Plants really do respond to classical music.

• When am I going to find time to mail Christmas cards and bake pies?

• I promise to never let another political campaign consume a year of my life.
  

Yeah right.

Have A Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

PA Legislature's "Let Them Eat Cake Syndrome"

While every major utility in Pennsylvania is hiking their rates, corporations are freezing wages, mortgages are adjusting upwards, and the average citizen is struggling to make ends meet, the Pennsylvania State Legislature is giving themselves a pay raise. Political activist Gene Stilp refers to this as the "let them eat cake syndrome". I call it the "screw you, as long as I get mine" approach to governance.


Mario F. Cattabiani Inquirer Staff Writer reports:

HARRISBURG - Despite a growing budget deficit, the very real prospect of tax increases, and unemployment rates not seen in years, Pennsylvania lawmakers are about to get a raise.

Come Dec. 1, base salaries of state House and Senate members will increase 2.8 percent, or $2,152, to $78,315. Legislative leaders will see even more of a pay bump.

The extra cash comes courtesy of a law that legislators passed in 1995, setting in motion annual cost-of-living adjustments, or COLAs, for themselves and other elected state officials, including the governor and judges.

The legislature replaced the COLAs in 2005 with raises of 16 to 54 percent but, after widespread public outcry, rescinded them later that year and returned to the COLAs.

Gene Stilp, a longtime Harrisburg activist who challenged the 2005 raises in court, scolded lawmakers for continuing the COLAs, especially in such tough economic times.

"The legislature is continuing with its let-them-eat-cake syndrome," he said. "Maybe the citizens need a guillotine."

Through the first four months of the fiscal year, Pennsylvania is digging a deep budget hole, with revenue trailing projections by 7 percent, or $565 million. The state is expected to end the fiscal year between $1 billion and $2 billion in the red.

Gov. Rendell said Wednesday that he was seeking new spending cuts on top of the $300 million already made, and that he could not rule out a tax hike next year. Rendell, whose salary is set to increase $4,806 in January, to $174,956, added yesterday that he was considering forgoing his raise and having his cabinet do the same.

Asked whether the legislature should also consider the option, Rendell told reporters that he needed to work with lawmakers in the final two years of his administration, "so I am not sure I want to necessarily beat them over the head, especially when you guys are all too willing to do it for us."