This is how Speaker Turzai carries out his duties as one of the most powerful politicians in Pennsylvania--by continually refusing to meet with concerned citizens, including people in his own district who pay his salary? He sure has a nice McMansion. Why are politicians allergic to gratitude?
Only partisan hacks can defend this behavior, and partisanship--not citizenship--contribute to our Commonwealth's huge corruption problem. Our gerrymandering problem is an R-Party creation. Our neighbor Marylands is a D-Party creation. So neither party can claim moral superiority on this issue.
According to Forbes in 2014, PA ranked 5th place in "most corrupt state" status; Five-Thirty-Eight in 2015, 6th place; and Center for Public Ingrate and U.S. News & World Report in 2017, 6th place.
Why does the Speaker tolerate this black eye on our state? He is stubbornly standing in the way of a popular, nonpartisan SOLUTION to one of the manifestations of our state's corruption.
Speaker, lets have an up or down vote on the Samuelson Amendment for SB22. Then use the power of your position to work WITH House Minority Leader Dermody to come to a CONSENSUS (read: NOT a watered-down compromise) on redistricting reform. Employ the nonpartisan Independent Redistricting Commission guidelines so that the governor can send legislators back into session to vote on SB22. You, Speaker Turzai, can help set PA free from its moribund reputation.
With an up or down vote well see which politicians from BOTH PARTIES stand for a fair PA that smashes gerrymandering and allows every voters voice to matter as much as the next. We dont want no more stickin cramming, cracking, and other dirty-politicians tricks.
BTW, I appreciate all the protestors from the non-partisan groups of both March on Harrisburg and Fair Districts. They are being arrested and facing jail and fines--just to get the attention of the political elites of our state to do what they should gladly do for all Pennsylvanians: The right thing! These are the same political elites who give the red carpet treatment to donors with big $$$. Capital has more free speech rights than citizens do. So only We the Peeps can clean up our shamefully corrupt state.
And thanks to both City Paper and The Incline for reporting on the protest. The fact that it wasnt reported in the dailies indicates that mainstream media are also complicit with our bi-partisan corruption problem.
CP's readers most likely know about the harmful effects gas drilling has on our drinking water. So just in case a few don't, they might want to know the following from Penn Environment (a statewide, citizen-based environmental advocacy organization):
Gas drilling contributed to the contamination of the drinking water supply of 325,000 people near Pittsburgh in 2008.
Already, drilling has contaminated drinking water in seven Pennsylvania counties with dangerous methane gas.
In the past year, nearly a dozen different drilling companies have been caught breaking cornerstone environmental laws, such as the Clean Water Act, at their drilling sites.
Also from Penn Environment: House Bill 2213, the "Land and Water Protection Act," introduced by Rep. Camille "Bud" George (Democrat from Clearfield--where the recent explosion occured), would strengthen existing oil and gas drilling laws in Pennsylvania and protect our drinking water and other important waterways, as well as the public's health.
I've contacted my state representative and asked him to support it. It takes just a few minutes to look up your rep's number and call.
This conference was wonderful. Arriving just in time for lunch on Friday afternoon was an unbelievably delicious experience. I wish the conference lasted a week so that I could have attended more workshops. And the plenary speakers were awesome.
The most enjoyable activity was "Jump Hoop Joy," an interactive, free-style dance and song celebration of the 14 billion year universe narrative. My only complaint is that I had to miss out on Play-Back Theater, another interactive experience, which was scheduled the same time as Jump Hoop Joy.
The can-do spirit around authentic sustainability, localism, and community is alive and well. When humans embrace the natural world and recognize that they are part of it, they realize their connection to it and want to take better care of and delight in it, other species, and themselves.
Most likely Mrs. Abram would not care if she didn't have the right to vote. Her husband would take care of her and her children, so why would she worry her pretty little head about voting?
Moore-Lappe's simple wisdom, anchored in our ancient memory, is really quite practical. When we see ourselves as part of nature and not behave like spoiled brats separate from it, we can come up with workable solutions to our dilemmas. Would it be perfect? No. It would be a process. That's what democracy really is.
How nice that Timmy Murphy wants people to have insurance coverage for mental health. Of course, this is for people who are lucky enough to already be insured.
But when he had the opportunity to allow the government to negotiate drug prices for folks with the Medicare drug benefit (yet another privatized boondoggle), he voted "no," a big kiss to Big Pharma.
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Only partisan hacks can defend this behavior, and partisanship--not citizenship--contribute to our Commonwealth's huge corruption problem. Our gerrymandering problem is an R-Party creation. Our neighbor Marylands is a D-Party creation. So neither party can claim moral superiority on this issue.
According to Forbes in 2014, PA ranked 5th place in "most corrupt state" status; Five-Thirty-Eight in 2015, 6th place; and Center for Public Ingrate and U.S. News & World Report in 2017, 6th place.
Why does the Speaker tolerate this black eye on our state? He is stubbornly standing in the way of a popular, nonpartisan SOLUTION to one of the manifestations of our state's corruption.
Speaker, lets have an up or down vote on the Samuelson Amendment for SB22. Then use the power of your position to work WITH House Minority Leader Dermody to come to a CONSENSUS (read: NOT a watered-down compromise) on redistricting reform. Employ the nonpartisan Independent Redistricting Commission guidelines so that the governor can send legislators back into session to vote on SB22. You, Speaker Turzai, can help set PA free from its moribund reputation.
With an up or down vote well see which politicians from BOTH PARTIES stand for a fair PA that smashes gerrymandering and allows every voters voice to matter as much as the next. We dont want no more stickin cramming, cracking, and other dirty-politicians tricks.
BTW, I appreciate all the protestors from the non-partisan groups of both March on Harrisburg and Fair Districts. They are being arrested and facing jail and fines--just to get the attention of the political elites of our state to do what they should gladly do for all Pennsylvanians: The right thing! These are the same political elites who give the red carpet treatment to donors with big $$$. Capital has more free speech rights than citizens do. So only We the Peeps can clean up our shamefully corrupt state.
And thanks to both City Paper and The Incline for reporting on the protest. The fact that it wasnt reported in the dailies indicates that mainstream media are also complicit with our bi-partisan corruption problem.
Gas drilling contributed to the contamination of the drinking water supply of 325,000 people near Pittsburgh in 2008.
Already, drilling has contaminated drinking water in seven Pennsylvania counties with dangerous methane gas.
In the past year, nearly a dozen different drilling companies have been caught breaking cornerstone environmental laws, such as the Clean Water Act, at their drilling sites.
Also from Penn Environment: House Bill 2213, the "Land and Water Protection Act," introduced by Rep. Camille "Bud" George (Democrat from Clearfield--where the recent explosion occured), would strengthen existing oil and gas drilling laws in Pennsylvania and protect our drinking water and other important waterways, as well as the public's health.
I've contacted my state representative and asked him to support it. It takes just a few minutes to look up your rep's number and call.
The most enjoyable activity was "Jump Hoop Joy," an interactive, free-style dance and song celebration of the 14 billion year universe narrative. My only complaint is that I had to miss out on Play-Back Theater, another interactive experience, which was scheduled the same time as Jump Hoop Joy.
The can-do spirit around authentic sustainability, localism, and community is alive and well. When humans embrace the natural world and recognize that they are part of it, they realize their connection to it and want to take better care of and delight in it, other species, and themselves.