Moon over Harrisburg

Christopher Columbus and his crew in 1504 were stranded on the coast of Jamaica, the explorers were running out of food and faced with increasingly hostile local inhabitants who were refusing to provide them with any more supplies.

Columbus, looking at an astronomical almanac compiled by a German mathematician, realised that a total eclipse of the Moon would occur on February 29, 1504.

He called the native leaders and warned them if they did not cooperate, he would make the Moon disappear from the sky the following night.

The warning, of course, came true, prompting the terrified people to beg Columbus to restore the Moon -- which he did, in return for as much food as his men needed. He and the crew were rescued on June 29, 1504.

Hint to Speaker Dennis O'Brien; tell Big Ed, the Maître de and Dealer DeWeese that if they don't stop spending like a bunch of drunk power hungry liberals using our credit cards at the Federal Wal-Mart you'll make the Moon go away. Do that and maybe Harrisburg might just start paying attention to the citizens of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Of course they'll tell you that they hung the damned Moon, but you just Moon them. The citizenry will applaud you.

Time To Ask Perzel And The Clerk Again Please

$5.1 Million Redux With Johnny the Perzel

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Tony Phyrillas: Citizen activist continues the fight
Some of Stilp's latest targets include the $5.1 million that Prince John Perzel, Speaker Emeritus, managed to remove from the Speaker's stash when it was becoming clear late last year that Prince John would be sent into exile.

"Unfortunately, even after the mistake of the pay raise, actions occur which are not normal in the view of the average citizen." Stilp writes. "It is amazing to the average citizen that a member of the legislature can move $5.1 million dollars from one account to another at his own volition.

"Stilp wants each of the 203 members of the House to explain to their constituents how one individual (Prince John Perzel) can have sole control of $5.1 million in taxpayer funds.

Stilp has a lot of questions for lawmakers:
The account was said to be a "surplus" account that had been built up over the years. Why wasn't that taxpayer money returned to the taxpayers?

How do you clearly explain to the taxpayers back home the methodology that allows this to accumulation to happen?

How can you make sure these actions do not reoccur?

Can you give a clear history of the workings of the financing of the Speaker's office for the past decades that shows how these actions are taken?

Who else is involved?

Will you start the investigation of the $5.1 million surplus?

Can you prepare a resolution to accomplish this? Will you subpoena the former Speaker, now Speaker Emeritus?

Do you approve or disapprove of the actions that have occurred?

Does the former Speaker currently have access to the funds that he personally transferred?

What are the transferred funds currently being used for? Who now controls these funds if it is not the former Speaker?

What are you going to do to return the $5.1 million to the taxpayers and not to any House account?

Why aren't these questions still being asked?

If the Maître de wants to give just the old folks a tax break, he could start by coughing up this $5.1 million and opening his books from the time he has been in office to find the remainder. Of course then DeWeese and the rest of the old bulls in Harrisburg can do the same thing to show us what they did with our dollars and how they really spent their time "serving" us.

Their e-mail alone would probably ensure they couldn't get elected as village crap shoveler.

Yes, Money And Size Do Matter

I am one of many that believe fewer criminals on the street means fewer crimes being committed.

a smaller cheaper state legislature? maybe.

When criminals don't have "walking around" money to fund their livlihood, their crimes are not so organized as to have the ability to launder cash and hire lawyers to make criminals look like candidates for sainthood for the "good works" they really do locally and statewide.

Candidate, District, Total Expenditure(cycle 1, 2 & 3)

Friends of Sen Jubelirer Comm, 30, $1,400,398
Brightbill, Dave, Friends of Comm, 48, $1,002,414
Friends of John Perzel, 172, $ 864,289 *
Veon, Mike, Comm to Elect, 14, $ 823,187
Fumo, Vincent, for Senate, 1, $ 571,283
John Perzel Victory Fund, 172, $ 483,069 * Total $1,347,358
Wheaton, Heidi, PA Patriots Form, 36, $ 334,581
DeWeese, Bill Campaign Comm, 50, $ 316,686
Baker for Senate, 20, $ 290,346
Friends of Mike Brubaker, 36, $ 266,424

It is also easier to follow the money when there are fewer criminals to follow. I don't know about Philadelphia, but maybe Harrisburg could use those 10,000 cops on the street.

Love is a Many-Vendored Thing in Harrisburg

We all had an interesting e-mail from a friend in Harrisburg this morning. It was ironic in that the e-mail was about e-mail and our fearless leaders in the State Legislature that are leading us down a primrose path to protect themselves from love and love lost.

Everyone should have an apartment or a love nest in Harrisburg. In fact maybe we should rename Harrisburg Virginia because Harrisburg, it seems, is for lovers.

Scuttlebutt is that legislators could be talked into open records going forward in time including not only voting results, but also what they voted on, ie, the bills. What a concept, voters knowing what their legislators are voting on and how they voted. Maybe when Pennsylvania grows up we can be like other states and know where our reps stand on issues.

Rumor has it that the kids in the capital might even allow the common folk to look at spending, taxes and entitlements before they're voted on. Some wag even suggested this info could be on the Internet. Of course we all said in unison, "Yeah, right".

This could all happen for the future, but there is no way any of this will be retroactive. The Democrats can shred records faster than a speeding bullet and the Republicans can run from a vote or position even faster, but e-mail is for ever, which many of the kids in the House and the Senate have found out. And boy are they scared.

It seems that many of those who serve us may also serve others in a more private way while serving us in other "sessions". And the e-mails could provide a a trail of evidence to the pompatous of love in Harrisburg. A virtual Pocono on the Susquehanna with heart shaped beds and lots of give aways.

We can just hear some of the old boys, as they leave a long hard day at the capital, humming;

"I really love your peaches want to shake your tree, lovey dovey, lovey dovey...".

Not all the time, don't you know. Just when they're in session which is why we will never have a sunshine law that is retroactive or so it seems.

Instead of a full time legislature and part-time loves maybe we need exactly the opposite. It would cost everyone less money.

e-mails are forever, not just diamonds.