Framing the Dialogue

Posts Tagged ‘pennsylvania’

I Am What I Am

I’ve had my share of nicknames in the past.  Some nice; some not so nice or flattering.  Every time I got a nickname it was usually “given” by a friend or close acquaintance.  I don’t think even the less likable ones were really meant to harm me or truly disparage me.  In the last two plus years I have been called all sorts of names because I believe that I am Taxed Enough Already.  I don’t belong to any particular TEA Party though I have gone to a few rallies.  I hope that my blog affirms my belief in the principles of the Constitution, the free market, and good old capitalism.

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Let The Sunshine In, Let The Sunshine In

PennLive ran a story this week with the following headline:

The sun shines on taxpayers: Measuring solar performance

You would expect a story with this headline to contain some good news for taxpayers and perhaps it does, but I am too jaded by the desire, no compulsion to give away my hard earned money to others. The story is about a solar project completed by the Lycoming County School District.

“The project is expected to reduce the district’s annual electricity use by 700,000 kilowatt-hours and act as a hedge against future escalation of the cost of electricity.”

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It’ll Help Seniors

There once was a story about a Gov. named Ed, poor Philadelphia man, mostly kept his state in red, then one day he was spendin’ out his a#%, and out from the ground game a hissin gas…Marcellus that is, natural gas, Pennsylvania cash…

If it helps that introduction sort of goes with the Beverly Hillbillies theme song [a show on TV Land for those of you under forty]. 

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C + P = PC

This is a rather simple equation that should be used whenever a group suggests that something won’t have an impact on consumers or expresses a desire to tax (or charge fees) for some industry or demonize profits from some large industry.

C = Cost to produce something

P = Profit needed by company to make it worth the risk to produce something

PC = Price to consumer

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Fee Fi Foe Fraud

Here is a headline that unveils a basic tenant of ALL elected officials.  Their goal, both Democrats and Republicans, is to find a way to get our money so they can lavish it onto their constituents…

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A Charter Barter

To charter or not to charter is the question among many Pennsylvania school districts.  A flaw (in my opinion) in Pennsylvania’s school charter system is that any application for a charter school must be approved by the school district in which it will be located.  This was humorously described by Rep. Tom Killion as “saying McDonald’s gets to say whether Burger King gets to franchise in their area.“  The article about the Pennsylvania charter school system provided some statistics that may bear out this comparison,

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Taking A Toll

My daughter decided to attend a college that is around 250 miles from home.  It’s not a terrible trip a majority of it is highway and most of that is the Pennsylvania Turnpike.  The Turnpike leg is nearly 170 miles unless I take a scenic route and get off early.  The last trip turned out to be a real muse as I had several ideas for posts…including this one. 

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News Briefs – Volume XVI

News briefs are a collection of interesting news stories…

Brief 1:  Pennsylvania’s legislature is earning their money as they consider a ground-breaking piece of legislation.  The legislation, described by Rep. Scott Perry, will allow citizens to defend themselves “anywhere you have a lawful right to be…It’s important we are allowed to avail ourselves of our constitutional right to protect ourselves.  Right now, the scales are tipped to criminals or perpetrators, and I want to see the scales tipped back to law-abiding citizens.”  If they can pass the legislation you you would be able to defend yourself without having to flee first.  If this is a “constitutional right” then why do we need a bill to allow it?  Perhaps the saddest thing is not so much that we need this legislation, but that our legislature cannot seem to pass it and that Gov. Rendell seems hesitant to sign it into law.  Maybe there is a critical vote on Pennsylvania’s state cookie.

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Jumping Jack Flash It’s A Ga$ Ga$ Ga$

Those living in Western Pennsylvania have been the object of a blitzkrieg of advertising about gas.  More specifically a very deep natural gas pocket found in the Marcellus Shale Formation.  Some estimates put the volume of gas in the formation at 500 TRILLION cubic feet which has fostered a great deal of interest in drilling this formation which is concentrated in the West Virginia-Pennsylvania-New York areas.  West Virginia and Pennsylvania seem to have the greatest potential.  Capture of this gas found in very deep geologic formations is not without significant costs and risks to both the drillers and the environment.  I would rather focus on the financial part, but did not want to overlook this issue.

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Liberal Alters – Unions

A few months ago I posted about the first liberal alter, abortion.  Now on Labor Day it seems appropriate to post my second installment about unions.  I think that I have a pretty unique perspective on unions having grown up in a heavily unionized Pittsburgh area and raised by a very pro-union father yet I was never a member of a union.  I certainly remember my father having to take turns on the picket line when his union went on strike and I remember many times when he could not cross other picket lines in support of other unions. 

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