October 29, 2016

Great OP ED: Toomey Ducks for Cover

This is from Tony Norman of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette:

The Sitting Senator Ducks for Cover

"As of Thursday, Sen. Pat Toomey still refused to say what he thought of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and whether he continues to support him."

"Swept into office with the Tea Party wave of 2010, Mr. Toomey, who was a “true believer” back when it was politically expedient to sound as crazy as possible, now wants to appear more moderate than the standard-bearer of his party. If he can do so without antagonizing the pitchfork and torches crowd that brung him to the dance in the first place, that would be his preference."

"Mr. Toomey understands that his reticence to go on the record about whether he supports Mr. Trump is the kind of political cowardice that doesn’t even pretend to be subtle. It’s unconscionable that less than two weeks before Pennsylvanians go to the polls, our junior senator continues to maintain the fiction that he’s still weighing the pros and cons of Mr. Trump’s candidacy."

<snip>

"Pennsylvanians aren’t stupid. We know Mr. Toomey isn’t in a position to endorse Hillary Clinton, but that doesn’t mean he’s obligated to endorse the Republican nominee out of some misguided sense of party loyalty. You can’t “love the sinner, but hate the sin” when it comes to Donald Trump."

Read more at : http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/tony-norman/2016/10/28/Tony-Norman-The-sitting-senator-ducks-for-cover/stories/201610280135

August 25, 2016

If You Are on Medicare or Medicaid, You're Ineligible for the Epi-Pen Savings Card.

https://www.activatethecard.com/epipen/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=epi%20pen%20coupon_exact&utm_content=epipen%20cost&utm_campaign=epipen%202015%20-%20branded&gclid=CODSsM_E3c4CFVcRNwodRngAnQ&gclsrc=ds

This happens all the time with so-called Pharmaceutical Coupon Cards. If you're on Medicare, you cannot use them. It sucks. What are those people supposed to do?

Mylan is saying they're lowering the price of Epi-Pens? Huh-uh. They are just perpetuating the scam.

July 7, 2016

Keith Rothfus (PA-12) Daily Kos "Crazy Republican of the Day"

July 4 Edition

“Crazy/Republican of the Day” is proud to prevent our 505th original profile today, and we’ll be talking about Keith Rothfus, the U.S. House Representative for Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional District who was first elected in 2012, and is currently serving in his second term in office after winning by almost 20 points in the 2014 elections. While his name might not jump out compared to some of the wilder Tea Party Republicans floating around the past few years, Rothfus has still joined in some of the more extreme partisan efforts of his cohorts, like say voting for the 2013 Government Shutdown, and then when the time came to reopen the government, voting to keep it closed. You might not get many quotes out of Rothfus that make him trend on social media, but when you look at his record and issue stances, he still adamantly opposes same sex marriage, wants to privatize Social Security, and wants to restrict women’s reproductive ways in as many ways as can be thought of.

<snip>

"Then there’s the matter of Rothfus’ voting record:

January 15th, 2013: Keith Rothfus votes against disaster relief funding for victims of Hurricane Sandy.

February 28th, 2013: Rep. Rothfus votes against the new version of the Violence Against Women Act.

June 19th, 2013: Rothfus votes against restoring $20.5 billion towards the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program.

September 30th, 2013: Rep. Rothfus voted for the 2013 Government Shutdown. When the time came to vote to re-open the federal government, Rothfus voted to keep it closed.

Feb 26th, 2014: Keith Rothfus goes “all in” on the faux-scandal surrounding the IRS researching SuperPACs by co-sponsoring and voting for the “Stop the Targeting of Political Beliefs by the IRS Act”. (Note: No one was actually found to be doing this after the investigation of the IRS was complete.)

July 10th, 2014: Rothfus votes for House Amendment 1040, to prevent the implementation of the dreaded United Nations Agenda 21 Treaty, that in spite of just being recommended climate change guidelines, have many conspiracy theorists within the extreme right convinced it’s a plot for global domination.

January 22nd, 2015: An anti-abortion bill, HR 7, was moving through the House, and was halted because even some members of the GOP were put off by the language in the bill regarding its definition of rape. Keith Rothfus, however, had no problem with that, and voted for it anyway.

February 3rd, 2015: Rep. Rothfus co-sponsors and votes for the 60th Republican attempt at repealing the Affordable Care Act. This in spite of the fact that the law is not just working, but better than experts predicted.

March 3rd, 2015: Rothfus votes against funding the Department of Homeland Security as part of a Republican protest of President Obama’s executive orders on immigration.

May 13th, 2015: Keith Rothfus co-sponsors and votes for HR 36, a 20 week abortion ban.

September 11th, 2015: Rothfus votes against the United States’ nuclear treaty with Iran.

September 18th, 2015: Rep. Rothfus co-sponsors and votes for the bill created by House Republicans to defund Planned Parenthood, based on highly edited “sting” videos submitted by a Pro-Life advocacy group that have been repeatedly debunked by investigators.

November 19th, 2015: Rothfus co-sponsors and votes for the American Security Against Foreign Enemies Act, reacting to the terror attacks in Paris by jihadists from France and Belgium by trying to create greater restrictions to keep out Syrian refugees, of whom exactly zero were involved in those attacks. One terrorist had a fake passport of a member of Assad’s army, apparently to create a false trail to help in their escape, or hoping that the attacks would be blamed on Syrian refugees, and the governments of nations like France and the United States would fall for it and not allow refugees to escape ISIS abroad. And… the Congressman fell for it.

February 2nd, 2016: Keith Rothfus votes for HR 3762, the 61st attempt by Congressional Republicans to repeal the Affordable Care Act (which is still working better than was predicted).

May 19th, 2016: Rep. Rothfus votes against House Amendment 1079, which would have prohibited the use of federal funds for discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. So if you were wondering, yes, he’s pro-discrimination, apparently."

Read more of this Despicable Behavior at:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/07/04/1544943/-CSGOPOTD-Keith-Rothfus

Folks, this guy actually moved his family of 8 into District 12 after it was gerrymandered specifically for him (he'd run for the seat before and lost). Rothfus is one of these anti-government Tea Party types who strangely has worked quite a bit for the U.S. Government, first for Pres. George W. Bush's Faith-Based Initiatives, then for the Dept. of Homeland Security, and now representing the tailor-made-for-him PA-12 since 2012.

The Democrats have an amazing candidate running against Do-Nothing Rothfus. Her name is Erin McClelland. Here are links to her website and Facebook page:

http://www.erinforpa.com/
https://www.facebook.com/ErinforPA/

Please consider giving Erin McClelland's campaign a look. She's a winner. Keith Rothfus has ALL of the WRONG ideas.

April 7, 2016

Hillary Clinton Comforts Family of Teen Supporter Who Died Last Week

"The family of Caileigh McDowell shared a private moment with Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton before her rally Wednesday evening at Carnegie Mellon University."

"Caileigh, 17, a staunch Clinton supporter, died Saturday of complications from Crohn's disease. She lived in Forest Hills and attended Woodland Hills High School."

"Family members spent 15 minutes with the former secretary of State in a room at CMU, said Caileigh's aunt Lynn Banaszak, who works as executive director of the Disruptive Health Technology Institute at CMU."

“She was very touched and very compassionate about the enormity of the loss to our family,” said Banaszak, who was in the meeting with Caileigh's parents, younger brother and others. “We explained how bittersweet it was that we were standing with her without our Caileigh, who admired her so much.”

The story of Caileigh, who by all accounts was an amazing young woman, has hit the Pittsburgh area hard. She couldn't wait to turn 18 and vote for Hillary Clinton. There are some nice pics at the link:

http://triblive.com/news/adminpage/10266122-74/caileigh-banaszak-clinton

January 29, 2013

Pennsylvanians Do Not Like Tom Corbett (latest Quinnipiac numbers)

"Halfway through his term, Mr. Corbett received a negative grade in the latest Quinnipiac University poll. Voters disapprove of the way the governor is doing his job, 42 to 36 percent. It is a significant drop from a 40 to 38 percent approval rating Nov. 15."

"It's halftime in Gov. Tom Corbett's first term, and if he were running a football team instead of a state, he'd fire his offensive coordinator," said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "Gov. Corbett has hit the 50 percent approval rating only once so far, mainly because of his bad grades from women."

"Women polled disapprove of Mr. Corbett's job by 45 to 31 percent, though men approve 41 to 37 percent. Republicans approve by a lukewarm 52 to 25 percent, while Democrats disapprove, 57 to 24 percent and 39 to 36 percent among independents."

"Voters said by 51 to 31 percent -- including 54 to 24 percent among women and 48 to 38 percent among men -- that Mr. Corbett does not deserve to be reelected. Only 49 percent of Republicans say Corbett deserves to be reelected."

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/news/politics-state/poll-shows-likely-pa-voters-disapprove-of-gov-corbetts-job-performance-672480/#ixzz2JNQwWOsi

November 20, 2012

What's Tom Corbett Up to Now? (Private takeover of PA Lottery?)

"HARRISBURG -- Pennsylvania received one bid in response to its search for a private manager to run the state's lottery system, officials announced this afternoon."

"United Kingdom-based Camelot Global Services LLC was the only company to submit a bid outlining how much revenue it pledged to raise over a 20-year management contract."

"Gov. Tom Corbett's administration briefed legislative staffers on the Camelot bid during a conference call this afternoon. The Department of Revenue posted a document listing the company's profit commitments on its website, though additional materials will remain confidential until a final decision is made."


Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/state/one-company-submits-bid-to-privatize-the-pennsylvania-lottery-662949/#ixzz2CoAgrsSq

August 23, 2012

PA Supreme Court Agrees to September Voter ID Hearing

Pennsylvania's Supreme Court agreed today to a swift review of the Commonwealth Court decision upholding the state's voter ID law, thereby rejecting a Corbett administration request to hold off until October.

The court agreed to an expidited review, meaning it will hold hearings in its Philadelphia session from Sept 10-14.

Read more at:

http://earlyreturns.post-gazette.com/component/content/article/53-post-gazette-staff/4697-supremes-agree-to-sept-voter-id-hearing?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+EarlyReturns+%28Early+Returns%29

July 9, 2012

Adult Basic Funding Suits Allowed to Proceed Against Corbett!

"Commonwealth Court ruled that a second class-action suit over the redirection of tobacco settlement funds away from the defunct adultBasic health insurance program may proceed against Gov. Tom Corbett, Budget Secretary Charles Zogby and the state Treasury Department."

"In a 34-page opinion in Sears v. Corbett issued June 27, a 5-2 majority decided to sustain in part and overrule in part preliminary objections filed by Mr. Corbett, Mr. Zogby and the state Legislature, allowing the plaintiffs to proceed with their claim seeking to have the state Treasury Department return to allocating tobacco settlement money to adultBasic."

"AdultBasic was a popular, low-cost health insurance program for working poor who were ineligible for other government plans such as Medicaid and Medicare. But the state let the program expire in 2011, claiming a lack of funds."

"The court also allowed claims seeking declaratory and mandamus relief to go forward."

"On June 29, the court issued a nearly identical ruling in a second class action, Weisblatt v. Corbett, though that suit does not name the Legislature as a defendant."

"Because the reasoning of Sears v. Corbett applies equally in this case, we incorporate that opinion by reference and reach the same conclusions in this case," Judge Patricia A. McCullough wrote for the majority."


Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/business/legal/adultbasics-funding-suit-will-proceed-643924/#ixzz2072VhIe2

Many Pennsylvanians have suffered because of Tom Corporate Corbett's apparently illegal ax to the Adult Basic Program. Adult Basic covered working Pennsylvanians who had no other way to obtain insurance. I pray that Corbett loses and these tax-paying citizens can have their insurance restored retroactively.

Tom Corbett. Worst Governor Ever.

May 9, 2012

Couple Denied Mortgage Because of Marcellus Gas Drilling

WASHINGTON COUNTY, Pa. -

Brian and Amy Smith seem to be the first example in western Pennsylvania of a homeowner being denied a mortgage because of gas drilling on a next-door neighbor's property.

The drilling goes on day and night at a new Marcellus Shale well in Daisytown, Washington County, and Brian Smith told Channel 4 Action News investigator Jim Parsons that he has no complaints -- except one.

"As far as drilling and the noise and the lights in the window? No," he said. "But when it affected the value of my home? Absolutely."

The Smiths live across the street from the new gas well. They applied for a new mortgage on their $230,000 home and hobby farm, and Quicken Loans congratulated them on their conditional approval.

"They said all the paperwork will be done by the end of the week and we'll be able to close," Brian Smith said. "Somewhere in there, they called us and said, 'Your loan got denied.' "

In an email, Quicken Loans told the Smiths, "Unfortunately, we are unable to move forward with this loan. It is located across the street from a gas drilling site." Two other national lenders also turned down Brian Smith's application.

Quicken Loans emailed the following statement to Channel 4 Action News: "While Quicken Loans makes every effort to help its clients reach their homeownership goals, like every lender, we are ultimately bound by very specific underwriting guidelines. In some cases conditions exist, such as gas wells and other structures in nearby lots, that can significantly degrade a property's value. In these cases, we are unable to extend financing due to the unknown future marketability of the property."

Read more and see video at: http://www.wtae.com/news/local/investigations/Couple-denied-mortgage-because-of-gas-drilling/-/12023024/12865512/-/ohf26fz/-/index.html

April 19, 2012

Extras Needed for New Matt Damon Anti-Fracking Movie! Check it out!

"APOLLO, Pa. -- An open casting call will be held Saturday for extras needed for the movie "Promised Land," starring Matt Damon and John Krasinski."

"The casting call will be held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Apollo High School at 400 North Second Street in Apollo."

"Kids, teens and adults are needed to work as paid, nonspeaking extras during shoots in Apollo, Avonmore and nearby areas from late April until early June."

"Casting agents will especially be looking for "great character faces, farmer looks, senior citizens, baseball players, cheerleaders, basketball players, teens and kids."

"Those attending the open call are asked to download and complete a registration form from the film's Facebook page, attach a recent photo and bring it with them on Saturday."

"The film is also looking for "upscale" extras for the first day of shooting on April 23, as well as stand-ins and photo doubles available to work the entire shoot."

"For more information on how to apply, visit the Pittsburgh Film Office's website."

"No prior acting experience is required."

Read more: http://www.wtae.com/entertainment/30914767/detail.html#ixzz1sUNef24z