Blair Blue Blog

I just caught this on MYDD follow the link and read for yourself

http://www.mydd.com/story/2006/9/9/132849/2262

Tell everyone you know!!!!

To the editor of the Morrison Cove Herald, Morrison Cove, PA:
 

A recent Newspaper poll in our Congressional District asked, ‘Should Congress eliminate the Estate Tax?”  Although it affects only America’s wealthiest two percent – Those whose estates exceed $10 Million – 88 percent responded ‘YES!”
 

Which means either:

1. Pennsylvania’s 9^th Congressional District is earth’s wealthiest greediest region…or …
2.  88 Percent of Ninth District residents want to annually tack another $75 Billion debt onto our children and grandchildren.

But of course most aren’t THAT rich and don’t hate our kids!
 

The 88 percent “YES” rate comes from being represented by Bill Shuster, who’s lied about the Estate Tax more than anyone, except perhaps George W. Bush himself!
 

Yesiree, we’ve got to end that ‘Death Tax”. It hurts farmers and small business – Bill repeats.
And you know – Repeat a lie often enough – People start believing it!
 

It’s why we’re in Iraq, why we’re no longer “Leader of the Free world”, why we’re increasingly a land of “Haves” and “Have nots”, why we’re destroying our environment and why we’re already hundreds of Billions of Dollars in debt – by having as president the biggest liar in world history and lapdogs like Bill Shuster and Rick Santorum in Congress.
 

And so it’s time – Time to replace that simple son of a congressman with special education teacher Tony Barr.  Because like Shuster, Tony will sporadically make news handing out big checks to local officials.
 

It’s nothing special; just how government returns some of out Tax dollars.  Every Congressman does it!
 

                But Unlike Shuster, he’ll work for peace, justice, equality and all the other things that made America great before the Bush administration came along.
 

I’ve found Tony to be forthright, honest, intelligent, compassionate, humorous – a winning combination.  Al he needs is your vote.
 

Shuster meanwhile, believing our district is his birthright, refuses to debate Tony.
 

Please help at www.tonybarr2006.com or (814) 696-1074
 

Paul Politis
Greencastle
(Note: the poll cited was taken by the Chambersburg Public Opinion Daily a couple of weeks ago)

The following was posted on Daily Kos and I’m just cross posting here, Tony Barr is the author.

 My opponent, Bill Shuster, has repeatedly stated that all is well here in Central-Western Pennsylvania. I guess that we should expect that kind of response from a guy who is used to glad handing the other suits back in the green zone, but the reality is that we have real problems in our communities. Nineteen businesses have closed shop here in the 9th and moved overseas since Mr. Shuster has been in Congress. These are 19 body blows to the economic and social health of Central-Western Pennsylvania. We don’t need more suits in the Green Zone. What we need are boots on the ground. What we need is action. 
We need policies that promote good jobs that people can raise families on. We need good jobs that our best and brightest students can come back home to after graduation. We need to look towards the future and dream. We need to dream big, and we need to work like the dickens to achieve those dreams.

This area was once the third largest rail hub in America. It once powered the mills that produced the steel that made our country the mightiest manufacturer on the planet. Now, the tracks are being ripped up and sold for scrap, the mills are closed, and our jobs are in Mexico, China, and a dozen other countries. Have you had enough? Will you rise up with me and remake this region, this state, and this country great again?

We can not go back in time, but from our past, we can find the keys to a glorious future. We need to invest in high speed rail. It will cut travel times to a third, it is over four times as fuel efficient as car travel, and it is a nice way to go. Doing this will reinvigorate our steel industry. It will continue to provide jobs for our people in the stone and concrete business, and it will excite the imagination of our young people. Who wants to go 65 mph in a car when you can go 200 or even 300 mph on a train?

Moving on, we need to invest in Americans and American sources of energy. Central-Western Pennsylvania is filled with backyard mechanics. Easily, they can learn to modify our automobiles to run on hydrogen or methane gas. This is not pie in the sky futuristic stuff. These are proven technologies that need to be implemented now. They only need our commitment in the form of investment dollars. This is but one small example of things that we can do here in Central-Western Pennsylvania to make ourselves energy independent. We don’t need to give our tax dollars to Saudi Arabia. We can give them back to ourselves and our communities, and our nation will be safer, stronger, and more prosperous as a result.

I want you to do some things. Yes, I want your vote, but more than that I want you to work, I want you to dream, and I want you to believe in America. These were the qualities that made this country great. We used to make things here in Pennsylvania. We used to show up to work everyday, and we built things. I want us to build a great future here in Central-Western Pennsylvania. To achieve this, we need a leader who sees great possibilities for the future not someone who is content with the status quo. To achieve this, we need a leader who will put his boots on the ground and go to work. Will you join me?   To Learn more about my campaign check out my website http://www.tonybarr2006.com

I was talking to a Republican friend of mine and he said something I’ve heard before from repugs but it hit me this time.  We were talking about the “Paris Hilton Tax Relief act” and the minimum wage and he said that people who work for minimum wage should stepped on, should be cast aside. 

I thought “My God, These are the Christian values that the GOP is trying to restore to Government” but that aside, I remembered something Bush had said at some correspondence dinner or other, Bush said “We have two groups of people here tonight, the Haves and the have mores, some call you the elite, I call you my constituency.” or something like that, my quote might not be accurate, that’s not the point.  The attitude is the point, screw the working class and those worse off.  That’s their agenda isn’t it?

Call me old fashioned but I thought the purpose of Government particularly the Government of The United States of America was to promote the general welfare and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity. Doesn’t that mean everybody?

Even if you believe that tax cuts for Corporations help the economy, shouldn’t you be doing that for the average citizen.

Even if you believe that Tax cuts for wealthy individuals, shouldn’t you be doing it to benefit the average citizen?

Even if you think that private Social Security accounts are a good idea, shouldn’t that benefit the average citizen?

Even if you believe that the war in Iraq is making America safer, shouldn’t you be worried about the safety of the average citizen?

“some call you the elite, I call you my constituency”, Sorry, I don’t think that’s what a congressman is supposed to be.  Bill Shuster meets with the Chamber of Commerce, and he meets with business leaders locked in the green zone, where money is all that matters but his exposure to average working citizens is kept to a minimum.  Meanwhile, Tony Barr is at festivals and fairs, talking to and listening to average people.  Toy Barr campaigns out of the gressn zone with his boots on the ground and that’s why he’ll win.

The man who sees absolutes, where all other men see nuances and

shades of meaning, is either a prophet, or a quack.

Donald H. Rumsfeld is not a prophet.

We end the countdown where we began, our #1 story.

with a special comment on

Mr. Rumsfeld’s remarkable speech to the American Legion

yesterday. It demands the deep analysis - and the sober contemplation - of every

American.

For it did not merely serve to impugn the morality or

intelligence - indeed, the loyalty - of the majority of Americans who

oppose the transient occupants of the highest offices in the land;

Worse, still, it credits those same transient occupants - our

employees - with a total omniscience; a total omniscience which neither

common sense, nor this administration’s track record at home or abroad,

suggests they deserve.

Dissent and disagreement with government is the life’s blood of

human freedom; And not merely because it is the first roadblock against the

kind of tyranny the men Mr. Rumsfeld likes to think of as “his” troops still

fight, this very evening, in Iraq.

It is also essential. Because just every once in awhile… it

is right - and the power to which it speaks, is wrong.

In a small irony, however, Mr. Rumsfeld’s speechwriter was

adroit in invoking the memory of the appeasement of the Nazis.

For, in their time, there was another government faced with true

peril - with a growing evil - powerful and remorseless.

That government, like Mr. Rumsfeld’s, had a monopoly on all the

facts. It, too, had the secret information. It alone had the true

picture of the threat. It too dismissed and insulted its critics in

terms like Mr. Rumsfeld’s - questioning their intellect and their

morality.

That government was England’s, in the 1930’s.

It knew Hitler posed no true threat to Europe, let alone to

England.

It knew Germany was not re-arming, in violation of all

treaties and accords.

It knew that the hard evidence it had received, which

contradicted it’s own policies, it’s own conclusions - it’s own omniscience - needed to be

dismissed.

The English government of Neville Chamberlain already knew

the truth.

Most relevant of all - it “knew” that its staunchest critics

needed to be marginalized and isolated. In fact, it portrayed the foremost

of them as a blood-thirsty war-monger who was, if not truly senile - at

best morally or intellectually confused.

That critic’s name… was Winston Churchill.

Sadly, we have no Winston Churchills evident among us this

evening. We have only Donald Rumsfelds, demonizing disagreement, the way

Neville Chamberlain demonized Winston Churchill.

History - and 163 million pounds of Luftwaffe bombs over England

- had taught us that all Mr. Chamberlain had was his certainty - and his own

confusion. A confusion that suggested that the office can not only make the

man, but that the office can also make the facts.

Thus did Mr. Rumsfeld make an apt historical analogy

excepting the fact that he has the battery plugged in backwards.

His government, absolute and exclusive in its knowledge, is not the

modern version of the one which stood up to the Nazis. It is the modern

version of the government… of Neville Chamberlain.

But back to today’s Omniscient Ones.

That about which Mr. Rumsfeld is confused is simply this:

This is a Democracy. Still. Sometimes just barely. And as such,

all voices count - not just his. Had he or his president perhaps

proven any of their prior claims of omniscience - about Osama Bin

Laden’s plans five years ago - about Saddam Hussein’s weapons four years ago

- about Hurricane Katrina’s impact one year ago - we all might be able to

swallow hard, and accept their omniscience as a bearable, even useful

recipe, of fact, plus ego.

But, to date, this government has proved little besides its own

arrogance, and its own hubris.

Mr. Rumsfeld is also personally confused, morally or

intellectually, about his own standing in this matter. From Iraq to

Katrina, to flu vaccine shortages, to the entire “Fog of Fear” which continues to envelope this

nation - he, Mr. Bush, Mr. Cheney, and their cronies, have - inadvertently

or intentionally - profited and benefited, both personally, and politically.

And yet he can stand up in public, and question the morality and

the intellect of those of us who dare ask just for the receipt for the

Emporer’s New Clothes.

In what country was Mr. Rumsfeld raised?

As a child, of whose heroism did he read?

On what side of the battle for freedom did he dream one day

to fight?

With what country has he confused… the United States of

America?

–

The confusion we - as its citizens - must now address, is

stark and forbidding. But variations of it have faced our forefathers, when

men like Nixon and McCarthy and Curtis LeMay have darkened our skies and

obscured our flag. Note - with hope in your heart - that those earlier

Americans always found their way to the light and we can too.

The confusion is about whether this Secretary of Defense, and

this Administration, are in fact now accomplishing what they claim the

terrorists seek: The destruction of our freedoms, the very ones for

which the same veterans Mr. Rumsfeld addressed yesterday in Salt Lake City,

so valiantly fought.

–

And about Mr. Rumsfeld’s other main assertion, that this country

faces a “new type of fascism.”

As he was correct to remind us how a government that knew

everything could get everything wrong, so too was he right when he

said that - though probably not in the way he thought he meant it.

This country faces a new type of fascism - indeed.

–

Although I presumptuously use his sign-off each night, in feeble

tribute… I have utterly no claim to the words of the exemplary journalist

Edward R. Murrow.

But never in the trial of a thousand years of writing could

come close to matching how he phrased a warning to an earlier generation of

us, at a time when other politicians thought they (and they alone) knew

everything, and branded those who disagreed, “confused” or “immoral.”

Thus forgive me for reading Murrow in full:

“We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty,” he said, in 1954.

“We must remember always that accusation is not proof, and that conviction

depends upon evidence and due process of law.

We will not walk in fear - one, of another. We will not be

driven by fear into an age of un-reason, if we dig deep in our history

and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men;

Not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate, and to

defend causes that were - for the moment - unpopular.”

And so, good night, and good luck.

The Following is a repost from MyDD.  This guy is from Berwick, It’s good read about building for “08

  My name is David Slavick, I am the Democratic Candidate for State Representative in PA’s 109Th District. ). I am a 27 year-old alumnus of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, and of Ursinus College where I majored in Politics. Despite studying politics and international relations in college, I did not become personally motivated to get involved in the political system until my motivation literally ran into me one summer.

    During the summer leading into my junior year, I was working at a factory that manufactured truck trailers near my hometown of Berwick, PA. Each day I awoke at 4 A.M so I could get to work at the plant that was about an hour away by 5:30 A.M.  The days were long and exhausting, but it was “lucrative” summer work for our area, as it paid an unheard of $9.00 an hour and you had most Fridays off.

    That summer I earned a few dollars for my textbook fund, made some friends, and even learned how to use an arc welder. Working at the plant also taught me some valuable lessons about the relationship between labor and management in the real world.  In the lunchroom, fliers littered the tables where we took our breaks. They stated that workers should be happy and grateful to have their jobs and that under recently passed NAFTA the company could start building trailers in Mexico within a week’s time.  We all knew what that meant.  

 Well, the clock’s a ticking and we have 70 days to get out our message of change, our message of hope, our message of accountability. It seems like a long time but, lemme tell ya it’s gonna fly by. They say that God created the world in only 6 days but God had a better budget than I got.

The people who Volunteer to work in the office here at friends of Tony Barr are an interesting breed. Uniformly, smart, dedicated and responsible, they understand just what is at stake in this election. Recently, I went with Tony to Mifflintown a small town in far flung reaches of the PA-09th, to speak to volunteers. Here’s what we told them.

Tony is running because he’s had enough. Had enough of Corporate interests getting the goldmine while working people get the shaft; Had enough of a Government that doesn’t think it has to be accountable to the people, had enough of $3 a gallon gas money going to countries whose citizens then try to blow us up. Tony knows that the people here in the PA-09^th have had enough too.

We only ask four things of our volunteers:

First; You must believe. You must believe we can win. Bill Shuster is beatable here, I know conventional wisdom says different, I know the pundits and the pollsters don’t show it and the DCCC and the DNC and even the State Party couldn’t give a rat’s ass what goes on down here in the 9^th but We can win. You must believe, not only in what we’re doing but in Ed Rendell, in Bob Casey, in the State legislature and State Senate candidates, too; you must believe Democrats can win. You must believe that rational effective Government can win in Pennsylvania and you must believe in the Democratic process.

When you stop believing that’s when the Neo-Cons take over, they tell us Government is the problem, and then they prove it; they tell us that we shouldn’t bother voting, and they rig voting machines and refuse to implement Voter Verified Paper, the less we believe, the further the Neo-conservative agenda advances and that’s bad for our region our State and our Country. You know why, we’re struck with a President like George Bush and a Senator like Rick Santorum and a Congressman like Bill Shuster and a County Commissioner like John Eichelberger, We stopped believing. Ya gotta believe.

And because any good Catholic will tell ya “Faith without works is dead”, we gotta work hard. We must make those phone calls and write those letters to the editor, and put up those yard signs and put on those bumper stickers and ring those doorbells and talk to your friends and neighbors and their friends and neighbors and so on, and so on, and so on. That’s how we win, one voter at a time. We must rebuild our party at the precinct level, at the county level, at the district level, one voter at a time. Yes, it will be a long process, yes, we will have setbacks, yes, we must go forward. It would be better to make a mistake, even a huge mistake, even a mistake that leaves a silhouette shaped hole in the wall, than to wallow in self-doubt and inaction.

We must have fun. You can;’t take yourself too seriously. I know the stakes are high but we must make time to have some fun and blow off a little steam. Take a look at Don Rumsfeld, and Karl Rove, and Dick Cheney, do these guys look like they’re having any fun. Ever see Osama-bin Laden laugh? That’s what I’m saying. So have some fun.

The last thing, we ask is a negative. I ask that you never doubt that a small, thoughtful, committed group of citizens can change the world. It’s the only thing that ever has. We’re gonna win the 9th.

To Learn more about Tony Barr

http://www.tonybarr2006.com

In a district that is made up of blue collar workers, farmers and seniors, Bill Shuster has got to be the most unpalatable of Congressmen.  Bill Shuster is out of touch with this district’s values and he has amassed a collection of Zeros from interest groups that support the welfare and interests of the people who live here.

Here in the PA-09^th, we value our veterans and Bill Shuster has received a Zero grade from the Disabled Americans Veterans 4 out of the past 5 years (He received no rating in 2002).  He also voted to deny members of the National Guard and Reservists bonuses and access to Military Healthcare.  As a member of the Armed Services Committee Bill Shuster refused time and time again to ask the tough questions about Iraq, voting with the Administration 87% of the time.

In a place where most people consider themselves blue collar and middle class, Bill Shuster voted against middle class issues not once or twice but 7 times according to the Drum Major Institute.

There are lots of seniors living in this area and Bill Shuster has ignored their fears about the privatization of Social Security, he still favors it and The Alliance of Retired Americans gave him yet another Zero for his dismal voting record.

Bill Shuster has shafted farmers by voting to give the oil companies Government subsidies, farmers live and die by fuel prices but the big oil interests paid nearly $40,000 and I guess that’s more important than farmers anyway.

When it comes to ethics, I guess our Congressman is known by the company he keeps, not only did Bill Shuster vote with Tom Delay 97% of the time but he took $15,000 from Delay’s crooked ARMPAC, an organization that was fined out of existence by the FEC.  Bill also took money from the Abrahamoff linked Ohio Congressman, Bob Ney and then voted to loosen ethics restrictions. No surprise there, right?

All of this might be tolerable to a Congressman that was bringing home the bacon to his district but Pennsylvania lags behind all other states in Bridge and Road money to the tune of $150 million dollars and guess who is on the Transportation committee, yup, Bill Shuster.

Of course, when invited to stand up and defend his positions, Bill Shuster called the very suggestion of debate a cheap stunt on a morning radio talk show

If all this information is leaving a bad taste in your mouth, it’s because Bill Shuster is sautéed in wrong sauce.  When I first heard that Tony Barr was running against Bill Shuster, I thought ‘Good, finally we have a choice” but the truth is; there is no choice, Bill Shuster’s got to go.

Learn more about Tony Barr at

www.tonybarr2006.com

Imagine, if you will, an administration using fear to defend our country from terror.  It sounds like something that might have been written by the late, great, Rod Serling.  Of course Serling, would have had a more interesting cast, than the likes of George Bush Donald Rumsfeld, Rick Santorum and Bill Shuster.  The plot, however; is still thick with kind of twists and ironies that would have made the smoking host of the proto-type Sci-Fi anthology show, feel right at home.

Consider this latest British Airline plot; NBC is reporting that there were “significant disagreements” between US and UK officials as to when to move in on the suspects.  It was the US officials, according to NBC sources, who insisted that Scotland Yard move in when they did.

My question is “Why”?  It’s not like the British haven’t been a reliable ally in the Global War on Terror, often, they have been our only ally.  It’s not as if the Brits don’t know a thing or two about terrorists, they’ve only been dealing with the IRA for about 300 years.  Why push them to move sooner then they thought prudent?  Could it be Politics?

The First Secretary of Homeland Security, Former Pennsylvania Governor, Tom Ridge, has recently been critical of the Bush Admistration for politicizing terror.  MSNBC’s Keith Olberman recently counted down the “Top Ten” instances when changes in political circumstances that would have been bad for the administration, have been followed by “Upgrades in the Terror Alert Level”, the most egregious of these are the “Alert Upgrades” that came conveniently on the heels of the Democratic National Convention that formally nominated John Kerry for President.

Olberman’s piece on “Countdown” lists 8 other instances where politics was going bad for the GOP and then two or three days later a new terror threat is announced.

So what happens this past week? Ned Lamont, an avowed anti-war Democrat wins the Connecticut Primary defeating Bush ally Joe Lieberman and a couple of days later, a terror plot is discovered. 

The truth is that Scotland Yard had been watching these alleged plotters for months and had the situation well in hand.  The British wanted to wait until they had undeniable proof of wrong doing but pressure from the US forced their hand. 

As a results of the insistence by the Bush administration that these alleged plotters be rounded up now, may very well be the reason that British courts may be forced to charge them with only minor crimes or let them go all together.

In what can only be described as a Serlingesque twist of fate, it seems that the very people screaming about National Security are the ones making Americans unsafe.  Rod Serling would feel right at home.

I gotta tell ya I was never that impressed by Bob Casey.  Mr. Casey’s biggest asset has always been that he wasn’t Rick Santorum.  So when I heard that Bob Casey was taking a trek through our region, my reaction was… well, a yawn and a nonchalant “what’s next?”

Like any good Democrat, my attendance at one of these pep talks is almost required and I couldn’t, in good conscience, miss this one.  I arrived about a half hour before the candidate was scheduled to appear, figuring I had a good hour until he actually showed.  I schmoozed and ate and made sure I talked about Tony Barr, the Pennsylvania 9^th district Congressional candidate I volunteer for, and waited with my fellow Dems for the featured act to show.

Bob Casey arrived only 40 minutes behind schedule, not bad for politician.  Flanked by about a dozen “Firemen for Casey” in Steeler Gold and Black t-shirts.  Bob Casey talked about being a Pennsylvanian and proud of it.  Bob talked about setting a new course for Pennsylvania and America.  Bob Casey spoke about working for the people of PA, in a way that didn’t sound to me like it was rehearsed, or practiced.  It was an erudite, eloquent monologue that didn’t go over the heads of those assembled but didn’t talk down to them, either.

Okay Bob, ya got me.  Before today, I would have voted against Rick Santorum no matter who as running, Today, I am voting FOR Bob Casey.  I hope you do the same.

Oh yeah and while you’re at it, vote for Tony Barr too, Bob will need help from house members.