House Majority Leader Mike Turzai, one of the Republicans who guided the voter ID bill through the Legislature in March, was listing recent legislative accomplishments at a meeting of the Republican State Committee in June, when he added: “Voter ID, which is going to allow Gov. Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania — done.”
Tag: featured
Harrisburg’s Debt History Concluding Chapters – Carpet baggers, politicians, muted media and compulsive borrowing
“Harrisburg was a cool place to live 100 years ago,” the librarian at the Historical Society of Dauphin County told me one day not long ago. I’d wandered into the library of the Historical Society to dig up information on the City Beautiful Movement, and Harrisburg’s water supply at DeHart Dam, opened in the late 1940s.
Japan Nuclear Disaster Was Preventable, Panel Says
From the HUFFINGTON POST / REUTERS: Japan’s Fukushima nuclear crisis was a preventable disaster resulting from “collusion” among the government, regulators and the plant operator, an expert panel said on Thursday, wrapping up an inquiry into the worst nuclear accident in 25 years.
Voter ID law may affect more Pennsylvanians than previously estimated
…The figures – representing 9.2 percent of the state’s 8.2 million voters – are significantly higher than prior estimates by the Corbett administration. Secretary of the Commonwealth Carol Aichele has repeatedly said that 99 percent of Pennsylvania’s voters already had the photo ID they will need at the polls in November…
Israel’s Health Care Provides Universal Coverage and Better Outcomes than USA, Experts Say
From FORWARD: …Israel spends slightly less than 8% of its GDP to achieve universal health care coverage, compared with 17.4% of the GDP in America for a system that leaves more than 40 million residents — one out of every eight residents — uninsured.
France raises taxes on wealthy, companies to narrow budget gap
Among the measures that will be in the 2013 budget will be a 75-percent tax rate for income of more than 1 million euros…
EDITOR: Today the maximum tax is 35% with the various loop holes and deductions averaging far less. However, a half century ago (1962), the USA tax rate on the adjusted for inflation dollar equivalent (around $1,300,000) was 91%!!!
HARRISBURG’S DEBT HISTORY CHAPTER 6: ‘Debt is not a disgrace’
On February 18, 1902, only nine months after the Harrisburg League for Municipal Improvements was formed, its president, city councilman Vance McCormick, placed two initiatives on the ballot for voter approval in the upcoming election.
What Lancaster General’s trustees refuse to help provide
EDITOR: Lancaster has no syringe exchange despite an offer by the Urban League to sponsor a state of the art program providing Lancaster General Health would help fund it. LGH, which enjoys the non-taxable status of a Public Charity, declined despite its so called mission statement to promote public health.
Evidence of ‘God particle’ found
From the ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION / AP: …Scientists at the world’s biggest atom smasher plan to announce Wednesday that they have nearly confirmed the primary plank of a theory that could restructure the understanding of why matter has mass, which combines with gravity to give an object weight.
US factory output at three-year low
From the FINANCIAL TIMES: US manufacturing activity contracted for the first time in three years, further denting confidence in a global economy that is already feeling the effects of the eurozone debt crisis and China’s economic slowdown.
Report: Roberts Originally Voted to Strike Down Obamacare
From NEWSMAX: …Chief Justice John Roberts originally sided with conservatives who wanted to overturn Obamacare but then switched positions on the Affordable Care Act to ultimately side with liberal justices, according to a CBS report released Sunday. The highly detailed report, quoting anonymous sources apparently close to the Supreme Court…
Harrisburg’s debt history Chapter Five – A smashing success
Mira Lloyd Dock’s December 1900 slide show in Harrisburg was an instant and smashing success. Both city newspapers, the Telegraph and the Patriot, would quickly climb on board to boost Dock’s campaign. The Telegraph took an early lead. Just a few days after Dock’s speech, in January 1901, E.J. Stackpole bought the paper.
SUNDAY NEWS
Associate Editor Gil Smart column “Drilling into a bubble” observes: “The gas boom throughout portions of Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia has brought great riches to many. It’s brought dropping natural gas prices for those who rely on it…
More financial scams are targeting older Americans
From USA TODAY: The fast-growing grandparent ruse is one of countless scams targeting older Americans, who lose an estimated $2.9 billion a year to financial abuse — an increase of 12 percent from 2008 — according to a recent study by MetLife.