Constitution Center....

......only in Philadelphia can a white candidate get accused of racial insensivity by three black pols at a public museun called The Constitution Center. Makes me so proud to be from here! Here is part of the story from the Philly Inquirer:

"Three prominent African American supporters of Seth Williams, the Democratic candidate for Philadelphia District Attorney, today accused his Republican opponent, Michael Untermeyer, of "lacking the racial sensitivity" required of a top prosecutor "in an ethnically diverse city."

Untermeyer, who is white, immediately branded the charge "ludicrous" and "a smokescreen" meant to obscure examination of the campaign's substantive issues. "This election isn't about race ... What's important is that we have the third highest homicide rate of any big city" in the nation, and a bail system that is broken, he said."

Rendell Misled Us ....Once More

In January, Fat Eddie Rendell said he would not increase taxes.

Today, he announced a 16% increase in the personal income tax rate. The tax rate will increase from 3.07% to 3.57%. That represents a tax increase during a recession of about $2 Billion per year!

During his six years in office, Fat Eddie has increased state spending by an average of 7% per year or a total of 42% over the six years.

Question for Pennsylvania taxpayers: Did your pay increase by 42% in the last six years?

Sound Fair & Equitable To You?

This is a glimpse of our future. A grim future where income and wealth is re-distributed at the whim of the political class. Today, the Pennsylvania governor, Eddie Rendell, disclosed how he plans to whack up some of the Stimulus money. The governor announced he is using $449 Million in federal stimulus funds for the school districts in the five-county Philadelphia area. Here is how the governor is doling out the money:

• Philadelphia has 38% of the area population & will get $361 Million or 82% of the funds.
• The other four counties (Bucks, Montgomery, Chester & Delaware) have 62% of the area population & will get only $88 Million or 18% of the money.
• Sound fair & equitable to you?
• Hell, I could ask why not give some of the stimulus to parochial and private schools too? Afterall, everyone is suffering in this recession right?
• Let's take my analysis about one step further:
• Philadelphia gets $1, 805 per public school student (I estimated population at 200,000 including charter schools funded by School Reform Commission).
• The other four counties get about $265 per student (I estimated student population at 330,000).

Uncle Sam Saves Fast Eddie Rendell's Butt

Governor Ed Rendell fattened Pennsylvania state spending by 42% since he became governor. Inflation was only 18% during this same time. He has also increased the state's long-term debt by a few billion or so.

Yet he is considered a good governor by the MSM. They regularly kiss his butt by "cutting & pasting" the governor's press releases into "news items". Due to the state's big spending, when the national economy collapsed, the state was also in big trouble because of Fast Eddie's big spending.

But amazingly, now the federal govt and Uncle Sam rides to the rescue and will give all the states bailout billions. That includes profligate states like Pennsylvania which will get $8 Billion or more.

So it is fair to say Uncle Sam is pulling Governor Fast Eddie's ample butt out of the fiscal fire.

Susan P. Michaelson says Ed Rendell Is Full Of Soup

The Philly Inquirer is almost a wholly owned P.R. firm for the Democratic party and especially Governor Fat Eddie Rendell. Surprisingly, it printed a "letter to the Idiotor" that debunked one of its own front-page stories that claimed Fat Eddie made big money sellling a state plane. Below is the letter from one smart person named Susan P. Michaelson of Radnor (practically a next-door neighbor of my town).

PLANE FACTS

Dear Idiotor:

The suggestion that Gov. Rendell is somehow a better plane salesperson than was Gov. Palin is nothing but hot air. Your front-page story ("Alaska, here's a tip on how to sell a plane," Tuesday) reported she netted $2.1 million for a plane that originally cost - it doesn't say when - $2.7 million. Pennsylvania will get $1.375 million minus the unreported cost for pre-sale maintenance, including a brake job, for a plane that cost "slightly more than a million" in 1992.

How about filling in some facts?

First, the sales and markets are not comparable. Alaska's plane was a 1984 10-seat Westwind II, nearly 21/2 times as expensive as Pennsylvania's 1981 seven-seat Beech King Air 200. The Westwind was an impractical vanity purchase by Palin's predecessor, Frank Murkowski, for which many suggest he overpaid. Outrage over that plane helped get Palin elected.

As any first-year Wharton MBA student can tell you, total returns are not comparable on two different purchases without taking into account a host of information you failed to address, including demand, operating and maintenance costs, and forgone expenses.

It took Palin nine months to finalize the sale for maximum return, eventually completed by a broker after numerous lesser offers were rejected. Alaska has its cash.

Rendell has been at this since April. He's taken the best of four offers, but still hasn't closed the deal.

Gov. Palin sold the plane and cut the best deal she could for the people of Alaska. Gov. Rendell is doing the same. That's all you can fairly conclude.

Susan P. Michaelson, Radnor

Fat Eddie Rendell Is Full Of Soup

The Philadelphia media specifically and the MSM generally give Governor Ed Rendell 150% non-stop 24-7's favorable spin on everything he does and just about every word he utters.

So it is funny to hear Fat Eddie whining about MSNBC, one of the unofficial branches of the DEM Party. He claims MSNBC was way more favorable to Obama than to his girl, Hillary! Too too funny. In effect, Fat Eddie is proving what Republicans have known for years! The MSM is biased and liberal- I am shocked.

BTW- Pennsylvania has a new info access law and I am going to request copies of every press release that Fat Eddie's office sent to the Inquirer's idiotors so they could publish as a "news story".

[click on the post title above to read the story about Fat Eddie whining].

Can't Wait To See How The Philly Inquirer Plays This

Governor Fat Eddie Rendell suggests Dems should vote for Clinton because many white voters are not ready to vote for a black candidate. Fat Eddie goes on to say that is one reason he beat Lynn Swann by 22 points in the last governor's election.

Jeez- I don't recall Fat Eddie bringing up his "racial advantage" during the campaign.

[Hattip to Instapundit and Ace of Spades.]

Exhibit A : Why The City of Philadelphia Never Gets Big Improvements Done

SEE BELOW STORY FROM THE DAILY NEWS- SINCE 2003, THE MAYOR HAS NOT PAID THE REAL ESTATE TAXES FOR TWO PROPERTIES HE OWNS. THIS IS EXHIBIT "A" IN EVIDENCE FOR WHY THE CITY CAN NEVER GET BIG STUFF DONE. THE FOLKS WHO ARE IN CHARGE ARE SAD, UNTALENTED, DUMB, AND ETHICALLY-CHALLENGED AND I INCLUDE THOSE 100 MOVERS AND SHAKERS THAT RUN EVERYTHING ACCORDING TO THE INQUIRER.

Posted on Mon, Sep. 24, 2007
Urban Warrior Oops! Mayor's tax crackdown nets . . . the mayor
By Chris Brennan
PHILADELPHIA NEEDS every dime it can get to pay for services like policing our streets and teaching our students.
Mayor Street knows that.
That's why the city recently cracked down on delinquent taxpayers. What Street didn't know was that he hadn't paid the property taxes on two of the four properties he owns in North Philadelphia.
That is, until the Daily News delivered the bill last week.
I'm happy to say Street moved swiftly after a three-year delay, delivering a check last Thursday to the city for $4,798.99.
Street held a news conference three weeks ago to announce the crackdown on overdue property and business taxes owed to the city.
The city then started sending out notices to 23,000 property owners, demanding payment for $394 million in back taxes. Another $294 million is owed to the city in back business taxes.
The city, Street estimated, should be able to collect about 34 percent of those back taxes - about $234 million.
The mayor invited Thomas Brady, the interim chief executive of the school district, to that news conference to emphasize how money collected in the effort will help the city pay for education costs. That adds up to about $126 million for the district over the next five years, the city estimates, with $109 million flowing into the city's coffers.
City Solicitor Romulo Diaz warned that the city will foreclose on the properties of some tax deadbeats by November, with the potential for sheriff's sales starting by next May.
Sounds like a solid idea to me.
So I was surprised to learn that the mayor last paid taxes on two of his properties in 2003.
That was the year he was running for re-election. Must be some kind of coincidence.
A rowhouse the mayor owns in trust for one of his sons at 15th and Master streets had a balance last week of $2,625.68, including taxes delinquent for 2004, 2005 and 2006, past due-taxes for 2007, interest and penalties.
Another rowhouse owned by the mayor and his nephew at 25th and Nicholas streets had a balance of $2,173.31.
To his credit - literally and figuratively - the mayor has overpaid the property taxes this year on his home at 13th and Master streets by $1,290 and by $550 for another property he owns at 12th and Diamond streets.
Joe Grace, the mayor's spokesman, last week said Street didn't know he owed the city almost $4,800 until the Daily News called up to point it out for him.
Grace said the mayor found out that the notices on his delinquent property taxes were being sent to the wrong address. The mayor never saw them, he said.
"But that's not an excuse in any way," Grace added. "We do mean what we say: Everyone must pay their taxes."
So the mayor called the city's Revenue Department, found out that the Daily News' math was correct, and had a check delivered the same day to get up to date.
The whole process, from discovery to confirmation to payment, took about two hours.
The challenge now is to get the 22,999 other property owners with past-due tax bills to cough up the cash that fast.
Grace said the trouble with the mayor's tax bills got the administration thinking about how many other property owners might not be getting notices about delinquent taxes because of mail going to the wrong address.
The city is now requesting that people who own more than one property contact the Revenue Department to make sure the correct mailing address is on file. The department can be reached at 215-686-6442 or at Box 53190, Philadelphia, PA 19105. *
E-mail urbanwarrior@phillynews.com or call the Urban Warrior tip line at 215-854-4810. For past columns:
http://go.philly.com/columnists.

Fat Eddie Loves To Be Around Money

Governor presents Phila. Award to philanthropist Lenore Annenberg
The Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA - Philanthropist Lenore Annenberg threw Gov. Ed Rendell a kiss and appeared near tears as she accepted the 86th annual Philadelphia Award from the governor.
"I'm truly, truly overwhelmed," said Annenberg, 89, who served as U.S. chief of protocol under President Ronald Reagan.
The award, which carries a $25,000 honorarium, was established in 1921 by Edward W. Bok, publisher of Ladies Home Journal, to recognize a resident who has "acted and served on behalf of the best interests of the community" in the preceding year.
Annenberg heads the Annenberg Foundation, which made almost $48 million in regional grants last year. She has held the post since the death of her husband, publisher and ambassador Walter Annenberg, in 2002. He received the award in 1993.
Noting Lenore Annenberg's major role in the region, Rendell, a former Philadelphia mayor, said, "As lofty as she may seem, and as elegant as she truly is, Lee is anything but removed. We owe you a tremendous debt of gratitude."
"Walter would be exceptionally proud," he added.

FYI_ the Annenberg Foundation has $2.6 Billion in assets but it only donates maybe 6-7% of that per year to others. Why the fluff do they wait to spend all that loot? Why not spend it now and cure the sick, feed the hungry and give wealth to the poor??

Nah that will never happen because money means power and people like the Annenbergs and the Pews will never give up their power.

This Just In: Rendell Cabinet Member Supports Rendell Plan

The Inquirer can't go one day without running a story promoting one of Fat Eddie's tax & spend ideas to increase the state budget and funnel guvmint money to his friends in construction and in law firms. So yesterday, the Inquirer's chief stenographer of Rendell press releases ran this story that said essentially:

...Allen Biehler, Penndot Chief and Cabinet Member in Rendell Administration, Supports His Bosses Plan To Sell The Turnpike!!

Holy Crap- Stop The Presses- This Is Big News!

MSM Innumeracy

One of my pet peeves is the MSM inability to use skepticism and basic arithmetic skills to check bullshit put out by guvmint officials.

For instance, here is a quote from the Philadelphia Inquirer today about Fat Eddie's plan to spend $850 Million on a new program to make the state energy independent. I will believe that when Fat Eddie can make himself "cheesesteak independent". Read this quote below:

"Rendell says the small new "system benefits charge" - one-twentieth of a cent per kilowatt-hour, or about $5 a year for an average residential customer - would allow the state to establish an $850 million fund that would make Pennsylvania a leader in the effort to reduce U.S. dependence on imported oil."

So the governor said it is not a tax, it is a "system benefits charge" and it's only $5 per year!! Well that only gets him about $28 Million cause there are about 5.5 Million households in the state and I assume they all are "average residential customers".

So I ask who will be paying the rest of the $850 Million in new tax revenue(let's call it what truly is instead of system benefit charge)?

SEPTA

Today, the SEPTA board has a meeting to discuss fare hikes and of course, its lack of taxpayer funds (Editor's note: Boo Friggity Hoo). Fat Eddie, our money obsessed governor, will make an appearance and bloviate about how SEPTA needs "dedicated funding source" (Editor's note: Fat Eddie wants to raise taxes for the wasteful SEPTA).

Let me make this clear- SEPTA gets a ton of taxpayer money already. It claims it provides 300,000,000 annual unconnected rides. Its annual budget is $990 Million or thereabouts. For you public school graduates, that equates to an average cost per ride of about $3.30. And I have read their financial report. They already get about 60% of their "revenue" from taxpayers!

Here is how SEPTA pays its bills today. Pretend you are the "Average Josephine" and when you step onto your bus, you see two fare boxes. One box is marked "rider" and one box is marked "taxpayer". The rider (that's you Josephine) drops $1.10 into the rider farebox and the guvmint, on behalf of each rider, drops $2.20 into the taxpayer fare box. So, in effect, for every one of those 300 million rides, the rider on average pays only one-third of the cost and the taxpayer pays the two-thirds of the cost.

Do you feel increasing fares from an average of $1.10 per ride is such a horrible burden to the riding public? I don't and I think this crisis is just another alarmist game foisted on the public by Fat Eddie, SEPTA and the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Perhaps SEPTA should just charge a flat one buck for every bus or subway ride and two bucks for every train ride, get rid of the toll takers and ticket takers, eliminate all ads (they spend probably $24 Million to get maybe $25 Million in ad revenue) and all the other craptastic programs that make SEPTA a huge fat bloated bureaucracy.

Rendell Says Dredging River Will Create 175,000 New Jobs

Here is the quote from the Philly Inquirer idiotorial today......

"For that, Rendell and other backers of the project rely on a study commissioned by a group of maritime entities. It projects the creation of 175,000 direct and indirect jobs from port and infrastructure improvements related to the dredging. Rendell says even half that number of jobs would justify the dredging, and he holds out the tantalizing prospect that many of these jobs would pay "70, 80, 90, 100,000 dollars." Currently, longshoremen working in the region average $60,000 a year, far below the national average of $114,000. So there seems to be potential here if shipping traffic grows as expected. "

So let me get this straight - for about $300Million, Rendell will dredge the river, create 175,000 new "great-paying" jobs that pay about twice the national average of $42,000!!!???

Well, Rendell must be a miracle worker. Let's spend double that amount and create twice as many jobs. Oh and screw SEPTA- we should take the money from them cause we won't need those measly 43,800 jobs (see post below).

And thank you to the Inquirer idiotorial writers for quickly proving my point (in yesterday's post re SEPTA) that you will publish almost any piece of bullcrap that is peddled to you as long as it fits the idiotors' worldview.

47 Initiatives

Governor Fat Eddie Rendell announced he has 47 initiatives to insure everyone in the state of Pennsylvania. But I can't find them listed anywhere. It's been six days since he announced his sweeping plan which I believe will increase taxes but I support a universal health plan (just could not support anything this governor dreams up).

People Are Leaving Pennsylvania Faster Than All But Five Other States

Pennsylvanians love Governor Fat Eddie and he loved them back by giving everyone healthcare (the middle class will of course pay for it).

Unfortunately (for the governor) news reports indicate there will be fewer state residents to tax to pay for his "new investments" (that's the terminology Democratic governors use because it sounds better than "TAX INCREASE").

Yahoo News (or some such) announced Pennsylvania was ranked 6th highest in net outflow when they compared moving vans departing a state vs. moving vans coming to a state. In Pennsylvania, for every 43 arriving moving vans there were 57 moving vans leaving the state.

Here is the quote from the US News & World Report: " On the outbound trail:

• Michigan tied with North Dakota for the top 66 percent outbound rate,
• followed by New Jersey, 60.9 percent;
• New York, 59.5 percent;
• Indiana, 58.2 percent;
• Pennsylvania, 57.0 percent;
• Louisiana, 56.4 percent and
• Ohio, 55.8 percent. "

So let me get this straight- Pennsylvania could not even beat out Louisiana where I assume many, many people left due to the aftereffects of Hurricane Katrina.

And I am tired of giving you the links to the stories so find it yourself.

"Fast Eddie" Governor Rendell Delays Announcing Tax Hike Until After Election

Taxes are going up but Governor Rendell got a pass by putting the announcement off until AFTER LAST WEEK'S ELECTION! FYI- the governor has increased total state spending by 40% in less than 4 years in office (that's an average of 10% per year). Has you paycheck increased by 40% since Fast Eddie took office as governor in 2003? No, I didn't think so and he gets an eternal pass from the MSM becasue they just love liberal Democrats who eat cheesesteaks. Below is the link to the story about your tax increase.Enjoy!

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/16002238.htm

Speaking Of State Budgets

Lotta stuff in the news lately about state budgets. So I ask you why Pennsylvania's budget of $26 Billion equates to a cost per resident of $2,091 while New Jersey's budget of $31 Billion equates to a per resident cost of $3,555? FYI $2,091 vs. $3,555 is a statistically significant variation of almost $1,500 or 75%!!!

What costs so much in Jersey when compared to Pennsy? It can't all be due to differing ways that they fund education can it?

Inquirer Buries Big Story About Lynn Swann's Plan to Cut Number of State Legislator Drones

Let's say this right up front..."the Philadelphia Inquirer loves Fat Eddie Rendell- he can do no wrong in their eyes". And they are doing their best to support Fat Eddie's re-election campaign by playing up Fat Eddie's daily press releases and criticizing every thing said by his opponent, Lynn Swann, or downplaying Swann's platform.

For example, in yesterday's Inquirer, they buried a story about Swann's goal to reduce the size of the state legislature by 40% (afterall it is the biggest or 2nd biggest in the country!). IMHO, Swann's plan is GIGANTIC NEWS. But the Inky buried it on page 4 of its metro section. The people who work at the Inky should be ashamed to work there!. Below is the link to the story. Suggest you read it.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/14820288.htm