A Spork in the Drawer

Local Wingnuttery

Last month:

Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Cranberry, said he opposed the House's formal recognition of this weekend's 60th annual convention in Harrisburg of the U.S. chapter of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.

"The Muslims do not recognize Jesus Christ as God and I will be voting negative," he said on the House floor.

This comment, and the subsequent brouhaha, derailed the resolution and it never came up for a vote - indicating, I think, that an awful lot of PA legislators were looking for an excuse to be mean to Muslims. But I digress. Back to Rep. Metcalfe.

Today brings some amusing news:

The White Christian Nation compares Mr. Metcalfe, R-Cranberry, to prominent white supremacist leader Thomas Robb and says it wants to give him a Christian National Soldier Award during a rally the group is sponsoring Aug. 10 at Adams Township Community Park.

I think all of you will join me in congratulating Rep. Metcalfe for receiving such an honor.

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Good News From Pennsylvania!

For a change:

A bill that would amend the state constitution to prohibit same-sex marriage is in a deep coma and is probably dead, at least for the rest of this session.

Faced with staunch opposition to the measure in the Democrat-controlled House, the main sponsor, Sen. Michael Brubaker, R-Lancaster, asked the Senate last evening to table the bill indefinitely, and it agreed.

[...]

Mr. Brubaker denied those claims and said his bill was not a biased attack on gays and lesbians. He said that all the bill did was to make it clear that Pennsylvania believed that the only type of marriage that would be publicly and legally recognized was the joining of one man and one woman.

[...]

"I have a healthy respect for the homosexual community. I have a healthy respect for heterosexuals. I have a deep respect for the institution of marriage. I am standing for marriage. I am not standing against any individual sector of our society."

Methinks Sen. Brubaker doesn't quite understand the meaning of the word "respect," healthy or otherwise. Anyway, the more such bills are pushed off into the future the less likely they'll ever be passed.

People are wising up.

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Props For Honesty

Alone among all the polling organizations Public Policy Polling predicted an Obama win in PA yesterday. Whoops. So what's PPP's reaction to the actual results? Shockingly, honesty:

The networks have called it for Hillary and I think after Florida in 2000 they're not going to make that mistake again, so obviously our polls were wrong.

First off, please do not call us or e-mail us and tell us we suck! We are well aware, and it does not feel good.

After an explanation of their methodology:

We will just move on and try to do better in North Carolina.

Would that all organizations - and individuals - show such humility.

[Via Taegan Goddard.]

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Our Long Statewide Nightmare Is Over

To the candidates: You have sat too long for any good you have been doing lately ... Depart, I say; and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!*

*With apologies to Oliver Cromwell.

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Clarity Of Vision

Rightwing hack Stephen Colbert, broadcasting from Philly next week, comments on the never-ending Democratic primaries:

DP: What's your take on the primary so far?

SC: We're just delighted that the Democratic campaign is ongoing. We've got a continuing segment on the show called, "Democralypse Now," which is a delightful dismemberment of the Democratic Party. It's like the Democratic primary has now become like an art installation, like somebody built a machine that destroys itself.

As good a description of the Democratic Party as I've ever heard.

[Via Early Returns.]

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The Mind Of The American Voter

Welcome to Hazleton, Pennsylvania:

Of Obama, Duser said: "I'm not crazy about voting for a colored guy, but that's not why I don't support Obama. I'm not prejudiced. I just like Hillary."

He's not prejudiced!

She scoffs at the idea of voting for Obama: "I don't want to be a Muslim!" She looks dubious when told Obama is Christian. "Then why did he go see what's-his-name over in Iraq, that Lama?"

Well at least she didn't think Obama visited a llama.

Now, I'm not saying these Hazletonites (?) are typical of all Pennsylvanians. But they're not atypical, either.

Another three weeks of this. As digby said, "This election is worse than being stuck in seventh grade for the rest of your life. Jesus H Christ."

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The Mind Of The American Voter

Welcome to Pennsylvania:

Peter Contacos, 42, the fourth generation of his family to own and operate Coney Island Lunch, a downtown Johnstown business that survived two floods and the loss of thousands of regular customers when Bethlehem Steel eliminated 15,000 jobs in the 1970s and ’80s, will not vote for Senator Barack Obama, “because his name is Barack Hussein Obama — case closed.” Mr. Contacos, an avid hunter who proudly displays pictures of himself with a magnificently maned lion he killed in Botswana, said he considered Mr. Obama “a terrorist.”

I suspect Mr. Contacos voted for George because he's the sort of regular guy you can have a beer with.

We live in a very silly country.

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It's Never Going To End, Is It?

Prepare for seven - seven - weeks of this:

Oy.

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Welcome To Pennsylvania!

Elections are a-comin' and maybe you've recently moved. Maybe you ahven't voted before and would like to start. So one of the first things you'd want to do is find out where your polling place is. Good luck:

State officials have decided not to publicize their list of polling places in Pennsylvania, citing concerns that terrorists could disrupt elections in the commonwealth.

The Department of State was influenced by the terrorist bombings that struck just days before Spain's national elections in 2004, spokeswoman Leslie Amoros said. Election officials consulted with state police, the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency and the state Office of Homeland Security.

"The agencies agreed it was appropriate not to release the statewide list to protect the public and the integrity of the voting process," Amoros said.

[...]

The comprehensive list helps candidates for statewide office coordinate volunteer get-out-the-vote efforts, Singer said.

"A big part of (mobilizing voters) is keeping track of where polling places are, or when they change," Singer said.

My knee-jerk reaction is that we are a deeply stupid people. But to don the tinfoil chapeau for a moment, maybe this is intended to drive voter participation down.

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NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Harrisburg is calling him:

This week's editions of conservative magazine The American Spectator report that [Rick] Santorum, who now makes his living scaring people to death for a right-wing think-tank, is seriously considering a run at the Republican nomination for governor in 2010.

Is there any way to give Fast Eddie a third term?

[Via Keystone Politics.]

"Put me down, you perv!"

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Only In Pennsylvania*

For those unfamiliar with Pennsylvania we have some of the most - maybe the most - idiotic alcohol laws in the nation. If you want to buy beer you have to go to a beer distributor (cases only) or a bar (six packs) and wine and liquor must be purchased directly from the state government. There is now a move on to change these archaic laws but (and this is no surprise) the legislature is still filled with idiots:

Just as Pennsylvania was threatening to crawl into the 20th century -- never mind the 21st century -- by allowing beer drinkers to buy their beverage of choice at supermarket cafes, two state senators want to kill the whole idea before it has a chance to spread statewide.

[...]

"There has to be in-store dining -- seats, chairs," state LCB member P. J. Stapleton said at a wide-ranging hearing yesterday convened by the state Senate's Law and Justice Committee, chaired by state Sen. John Rafferty, R-Montgomery. [...]

That means they'd have separate cash registers, and even, in some cases, separate cashiers, to make sure that the cashiers who ring up the beer are at least 18 years old, as required by state law.

But, of course, even this pathetic attempt at sanity is running into trouble:

Soon, Mr. Rafferty said, he and Monroeville Democratic Sen. Sean Logan plan to introduce a bill that would close what, in his eyes, is a potentially harmful loophole. "I'm very concerned over the age issue, [the] possible sales to minors," he said.

"I'm looking to tighten it up" so that groceries won't be able to sell beer, but delis still would.

Pennsylvania: Gateway to the 19th. Century!

*IIRC, Virginia and Utah (Mormons!) have nutty liquor laws as well.

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Yay Us

Dems take the Pennsylvania legislature:

HARRISBURG -- It appears that Democrats have won control of the state House for the first time since 1994.

Chester County officials today tallied about 300 absentee ballots that had been uncounted since the night of Nov. 7 and determined that the Republican candidate in the 156th District, Shannon Royer, lost to Democratic challenger Barbara Smith, by a mere 23 votes.

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