Occasionally a good idea, or was before I got so old.
In any event, I must take issue, as I always do, with the Era when it editorializes about beer sales:
Today we quote the president of the PA Malt Beverage Association, who says hey - you, Joe Consumer, already have plenty of convenience when it comes to […]

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About two months ago Donegal High School was staging a career day, and wanted someone from the newspapers to come for the dog and pony show. I do a pretty mean dog and pony show, so I got the call.
I’d not been to the high school in years. And though I’d been reading about how […]

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Reading the stories about the proposed Turnpike lease, I come away wary.
The Turnpike, whatever you might say about it, is a public asset. The privatization of what the public has already paid for seems the next big wave in governance, as governments like Pennsylvania become desperate to raise new revenue. Since we can’t raise taxes, […]

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I’m not quite sure why I can’t find this online anywhere, but if you have a chance check out Peter DeCoursey’s column on the editorial page of today’s Intell, where he writes about how state Sen. Vince Fumo used a little legislative ju-jitsu to defeat Sen. Mike Brubaker’s “Hate The Gay” bill:
There were at least nine Senate […]

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Saw this on CNN this morning, story about the situation in Philadelphia that kind of makes the Rodney King deal look like a day at the park:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaDv1kEXEIM

I mean, the cops all rush over so they can kick these guys, prone on the ground. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that five officers have been placed on administrative leave; on CNN this […]

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This one’s pretty funny, or would be if Dumeyer wasn’t serious:
Republicans are busy plotting strategies to recapture the thousands of voters who switched their party registration so they could vote in the Democratic primary.
Area Republican officials plan to convene next week to decide what their message should be, according to Lancaster County GOP chairman Dave […]

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Hillary by 10, John King on CNN right now noting how she crushed Obama in the typical white, working class enclaves - Scranton, Reading, etc.
Funny that Lancaster would be among the more urbanized counties going for Obama. In any event; snap judgment here is that Hillary’s got a good argument now that your typical blue […]

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Colleague points me to a piece by Michael Deibert, a journalist who grew up here in Lancaster and now lives in Kinshasha and written about Haiti and Africa for Salon.com, the Village Voice and other publications. But in this piece, he’s writing about the Obama-Hillary “bitter” business. And, he writes, the whole thing is driving […]

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And this I didn’t know: There are more NRA members in Pennsylvania than any other state.

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In Philadelphia, that is:
Fourteen months into a campaign that has the feel of a movement, Sen. Barack Obama has collided with the gritty political traditions of Philadelphia, where ward bosses love their candidates, but also expect them to pay up.
The dispute centers on the dispensing of “street money,” a long-standing Philadelphia ritual in which candidates […]

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For years now there have been rumors circulating that Wegman’s is interested in a spot in Lancaster County, and why not. Economically this may be one of the most dynamic communities in the commonwealth; there’s money to be made here (which is why all those other national retailers keep coming). Though I’ve also been told […]

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Dunno whether it carries the same weight as Rendell backing Hillary, but significant nonetheless.

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See, you know, when Republicans play the race card, I expect that from them. When Democrats do it, it’s just execrable - but, as Will Bunch notes, maybe in states like this one it’s to be expected:
A sculptor brought in to mold a Hillary Clinton voter would have crafted Geraldine Ferraro from scratch. She’s 72 […]

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See, I’m not necessarily opposed to this, Rep. Tom Creighton’s idea that casinos ought to be required to send monthly win-lost statements to those who have registered for “reward cards” and get maybe free drinks or food, that sort of thing.
I have zero confidence that it will accomplish what Creighton thinks it will, however:
Creighton said these […]

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C’mon Joe, don’t call me “Mr. Smart,” that’s my dad. And by the way, I think it’s a good thing that LOL has a righty blogging on the site, we can play some rhetorical raquetball around here. Wear a helmet.
But back to the matter at hand. You say this:
The left doesn’t trust the people enough […]

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If you’ve never lived in Pittsburgh this probably won’t mean anything to you. If you have spent time in the ‘burgh, however - it’s just a very sad thing.
Myron  Cope died of respiratory failure this morning at age 79.
Cope had several claims to fame over the course of his long career in sports, and in […]

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Post-Gazette reporting that there will be public hearings in Pennsylvania this summer on the prospect of privatizing state stores:
Sen. Rob Wonderling, R-Montgomery, introduced the privatization bill this month, arguing that the state should not be in the liquor business. In the bill’s current form, about two-thirds of the 623 state stores would be sold to […]

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Tony Norman at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wonders about Gov. Ed’s “blunt talk” on race, and how Obama’s might prevent some Pennsylvanians for voting for him:
“You’ve got conservative whites here, and I think there are some whites who are probably not ready to vote for an African-American candidate,” he said bluntly. Our eyes only met briefly, […]

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Why must the wingnuttery always, always, always emanate from Lancaster County?
Because you look at the state of the commonwealth, you see economic issues, you see the plight of our cities, you see questions about gaming revenues and tax issues. So clearly, we can understand why state Sen. Mike Brubaker should make a priority out of: […]

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I’ve always been sort of wary of the term “fixed income.” It’s used, of course, most often with seniors - they’re on a ”fixed income,” and therefore in peril. And that can certainly be true, though it’s also true that just because you’re on a ”fixed income” doesn’t mean you shop for dinner in the dog food aisle. One […]

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