Since when are Democrasses embarrassed to be thought of as homosexual?

And why isn't this kind of unwanted touching considered sexual assault?



GOP lawmaker's 'I don't like men' comment stirs protest - Philly.com

By Marc Levy

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - An outspoken and conservative Pennsylvania state lawmaker has stirred calls to resign or be demoted after he interrupted a committee meeting to accost his Democratic counterpart for touching his arm and suggest the man might be gay.

Hold it right there, commie pinko Philamortia (or is it Mortadelphia?) Inquirer stooge. You think homosexuality is a good thing, remember? Why would a left-fascist lawmaker be ashamed by a mere insinuation? He (and you) should be giddy to have someone think you are a sodomite. He will get more votes and you will get more readers. Or do you left-fascists secretly hate those who practice non-Euclidean sex, which is what you accuse your political enemies of doing?

Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf on Wednesday called Rep. Daryl Metcalfe's comments offensive and discriminatory, and said it is "part of a disturbing pattern of behavior."

Wolf is a dick.

Wolf does not think Metcalfe should chair a committee that has authority over legislation to expand gay and transgender rights, his spokesman said.

Wolf is a dick.

House Speaker Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny, declined to discuss the issue Wednesday. Turzai, who is running to challenge Wolf's re-election bid next year, declined to discuss the subject Wednesday.

The state Democratic Party called for Metcalfe to resign, while a gay and transgender rights group and a health care workers' labor union asked Turzai to strip Metcalfe of his committee chairmanship.

Why? Are leftist homosexuals filled with self-loathing or are they only interested in political power?

Metcalfe, R-Butler, chairs the State Government Committee, and his comments and committee meetings routinely stoke anger from Democrats. Democrats say he regularly shuts down their questions or comments and uses his committee as an ideological weapon. The hostility occasionally spills onto the House floor.

I didn't know this was an editorial.

In Tuesday's meeting on a bill about landlocked easements and roads, Metcalfe interrupted Democratic Rep. Matt Bradford - seated next to him - after Bradford placed his hand on Metcalfe's forearm while speaking.

"Representative Bradford, look, I'm a heterosexual, I have a wife, I love my wife, I don't like men, as you might, but stop touching me all the time," Metcalfe said. "It's like, keep your hands to yourself. Like, if you want to touch somebody, you have people on your side of the aisle that might like it, I don't."

A visibly stunned Bradford laughed and said the meeting was "officially off the rails."

"My intent was just to beg for your permission for about 30 seconds," Bradford said.

"Then beg," Metcalfe responded, "don't touch."

Bradford - who has a wife and four children - later said he had simply sought to stop Metcalfe from interrupting him.

WTF? A guy with a wife and kids can't be a homosexual? What a narrow-minded and provincial attitude. Hey, Levy! The 1950s called and they want their prejudices back!

"The chairman can be volatile," Bradford, D-Montgomery, said. "I have strong views of my own, but I don't think that's an excuse to go into a diatribe. ... It's not isolated, it's not a singular incident, it's not because someone touched his arm."

Metcalfe told The Philadelphia Inquirer that Bradford, for months, has been continually touching him and that he has asked him to stop.

"If someone touches another person, and they say, 'stop touching me,' and they don't stop, that's serious business," Metcalfe told the Inquirer.

Exactly. No means no, right?

Except when Democrasses see a political cudgel, obviously.

Metcalfe's committee meetings often erupt in rancor.

In one incident, Metcalfe pressed legislation to make English the official language of Pennsylvania and invited someone he identified as a "white nationalist" to testify in favor of it. He has pressed immigration legislation to stem what he called the "illegal alien invasion" and clashed several times with an openly gay lawmaker.

Bottled up in his committee is legislation banning discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation in employment, housing and public services.

It sure sounds like Conyers-Franken-Weinstein's Syndrome to me.

While we're on the topic of sexual assault/harassment, I have a left-leaning logic problem for you:

All homosexual males are men.

All men are sexual predators.

Therefore, all homosexuals are predators.

Do I have that right? Or is any behavior excused if you follow the line of The Party of Blasphemy, Buggery, and 'Bortion?

TheChurchMilitant: Sometimes anti-social, but always anti-fascist since 2005.

The '50s are back and the commies are poisoning our water!

Seriously, kiddies, most everything on God's blue earth will kill you DEAD if you ingest enough of it. That's why they don't put lethal amounts of fluoride in the water!

Oxygen's a poison, too. Can't wait for the bastards to try and mandate breathing.



The Fight Over Fluoridation In PA | WPMT FOX43

Dr. Joyce Kasunich is a dentist, so she sees first hand the benefit that fluoride can provide, especially for children.

"I think fluoride is a great protection for our teeth, to help strengthen our enamel," she said.

Community water fluoridation is supported by major health and science organizations across the country, including the American Dental Association, the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC states that drinking fluoridated water keeps teeth strong and reduces cavities by about 25 percent in children and adults. Despite that, only 17 states have laws in place regarding fluoridation and Pennsylvania is not one of them. In fact, lawmakers in PA have introduced more than a dozen bills over the last 30 years, with none of them passing.

"The state is reluctant to pass a mandate, passing it off to the parameters of the local water authority and the local communities are saying we aren't doing it unless the state passes a state-wide mandate," said Camille Kostelac-Cherry from the PA Dental Association. She said there are several reasons for what she calls a never ending game of hot potato, and one of them is politics.

"We've actually had legislators in our state legislature in the past that owned water companies and who were very opposed to it, and convinced colleagues to vote against a state-wide mandate," she said. She also believes that many lawmakers feel pressure from a vocal minority of constiuents against fluoride.

One of those critics is holistic health coach, Amanda Goodwin.

"It's a poison that's destroying our endocrine system and messing up our thyroid," she said.

Amanda believes fluoride is a toxin. She said if you really wanted it, you could find it other ways. Forcing it on people though, in their water supply, is not okay.

Camille, however, disagrees and said that there is science and evidence to prove the benefit of water fluoridation.

She also said that if fluoride is added now, it will show a huge benefit and long term financial savings to the state.

"Dental disease particularly in children is one of the top health concerns in pennsylvania," Kostelac-Cherry said.

Dr. Kasunich said she would much rather prevent a disease than try to treat a disease.

If you are interested in learning more about the fluoride debate, here are links to find more information about both sides of the argument.

http://www.cdc.gov
http://www.ada.org
http://www.actionpa.org

TheChurchMilitant: Sometimes anti-social, but always anti-fascist since 2005.

Meet Larry Krasner, commie lawyer and Philly's next DA.

It is way past time for all decent people to leave the City of Brotherly Death.


From WhatIsTheFuck.org:

Philadelphia DA nominee would stop seeking death penalty | witf.org


A civil rights lawyer (Hee-hee. - F.G.) poised to become the next Philadelphia District Attorney says he would immediately stop seeking the death penalty and prioritize education, drug treatment and job training.
Larry Krasner's background as a defense lawyer and left-leaning policy positions worry some police officers and prosecutors in the wake of his Democratic primary victory Tuesday.

The vast majority of city voters are Democrats, making him the favorite in the fall election.
City police union president John McNesby criticized a handful of Krasner supporters making anti-police comments on election night.

Krasner says he has spoken with Police Commissioner Richard Ross and is confident they can work together.

Krasner says he would recruit top legal minds from around the country to join the 600-person office.

What? Like his? God help us.

Current District Attorney Seth Williams is facing a federal bribery trial.

Wow. They actually busted one of their own. What heinous crime did he commit? Refusing to eat children?


TheChurchMilitant: Sometimes anti-social, but always anti-fascist since 2005.

Where did all the noisy and angry patriots go?

If you are an insomniac, American polling places on an "off year" (I do so hate that.) election day is a sure cure.

Today is Primary Election Day in the Commonpoverty of Penn's Woods. I voted around mid-morning and I was the thirty-eighth voter of the day.

Neither the Orange nor the Distaff Clumpsomanics showed up. Nobody did.

Our Republic is dying, kiddies, killed by ignorance, indifference, and stupidity. "Partisanship" is not the culprit because it has always existed everywhere. (As usual, I urge you to read a few books on the subject, preferably ones written before the beginning of The Century of Horror.)

And you wonder why we can't have nice things anymore...


TheChurchMilitant: Sometimes anti-social, but always anti-fascist since 2005.

Will Totalitarian Pennsylvania boldly dare to enter the second half of the 20th Century?????????

I'm not holding my breath...


House Approves Bill To Sell State's Liquor Wholesale System - CBS Pittsburgh ...


HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – The state House is giving its approval to a plan to lease and eventually sell off the state’s wholesale system for wine and spirits, a change that opponents say could spell the end of state-owned liquor stores.

Pennsylvania lawmakers on Tuesday voted 105 to 84 in favor of the bill, part of a package of booze-related legislation pushed ahead by the Republican majority.

The House also voted to allow more grocery stores to seek permits to sell wine, no longer restricting them to stores with seating capacity.

And it voted to let restaurant and hotel licensees sell up to three liters of takeout liquor per customer.

The proposals were sent to the Senate for its consideration.

TheChurchMilitant: Sometimes anti-social, but always anti-fascist since 2005.

It is time for everybody to start ignoring G. "Wiz" Terry Madonna.

     One of the biggest fatheads in the history of fatheads really screwed the pooch this time, kiddies. His last "opinion poll" had Distaff Clump beating Orange Clump by 11 points in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. This Democrass party apparatchik is propped up by the lazy and corrupt media and his own shameless self- promotion. It is time somebody takes this moron to the dog track and leaves him there.

Pennsylvania is a battleground state once again.

From the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

Keep those eyes on bellwethers Ohio and Pennsylvania 

Perception and reality are two different things in politics.

On paper, Republicans Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Rob Portman of Ohio should be losing in the polls in their U.S. Senate re-election races. 

Both men have been hammered for a month over whether they will support their party's presumptive nominee, their opposition to voting on President Obama's Supreme Court nominee and their refusal to enact new gun legislation after the massacre in Orlando. 

Yet both are defying conventional political wisdom. 

Toomey increased his lead over Democrat Katie McGinty by 8 percentage points in the latest Quinnipiac survey. 

Portman's numbers improved by 9 points, placing him in a tie with Democrat Ted Strickland, a former governor who lost his re-election bid to John Kasich in 2010. 

The two Republicans are competing in critical states that offer insight into whether Democrats can regain House and Senate majorities in November. 

In short, if you want to know who will hold or retake the Senate majority, watch Toomey's battle with McGinty and Portman's with Strickland. 

As for control of the House, watch what's happening with congressional races in these two Rust Belt states. 

Ohio and Pennsylvania are microcosms of the Democrats' national difficulties in trying to win the House, said Kyle Kondik, author of “The Bellwether: Why Ohio Picks the President” and manager of the University of Virginia's Crystal Ball, the respected online political website. 

“Democrats have a path to the House majority but the Republican advantage in Ohio and Pennsylvania helps illustrate their challenges,” Kondik said. 

Republicans control 12 of 16 House seats in Ohio and 13 of 18 in Pennsylvania — overwhelming majorities in two states that Obama won twice and that, at the moment, Democrat Hillary Clinton is favored to win in November, despite close polling against Republican Donald Trump. 

In Ohio, Democrats don't really have credible targets, according to Kondik. Rep. David Joyce in Ohio's 14th Congressional District is vulnerable “on paper, but after Joyce won his primary, there's not much buzz about that race.” 

In Pennsylvania, Democrats hope to win Bucks County's open 8th District seat, which is the kind of competitive suburban seat they need to win back the House. “Realistically, they don't have much of a chance for any additional gains,” Kondik said. 

Before 2010, Democrats held a healthy majority of House seats in both states but lost five in each state to that year's GOP wave. 

Voters were dissatisfied with government overreach; the moderate Democrats who easily won those seats in 2006 — such as Patrick Murphy in Bucks and Jason Altmire in Western Pennsylvania — lost when their leadership forced them into votes that went against their districts' more traditional, more moderate values. 

There has been much speculation over the impact Trump will have on Republicans' congressional majorities, and much speculation that his awful months of May and June would show him sliding in both states' polls. 

Surprisingly, he didn't slide. In fact, in the same Quinnipiac survey showing Toomey and Portman gaining traction, Trump held steady.

“If Trump wins Ohio and Pennsylvania, Portman and Toomey should also win,” Kondik predicts. “But if Trump loses both states — and especially if he loses them badly (by more than five points) — both incumbents are in trouble.” 

Kondik's Crystal Ball has shifted Pennsylvania's rating in the presidential contest a bit toward Trump. That moves 2016's potentially most important state from “Likely Democratic” to “Leans Democratic,” despite the organizational and 2-to-1 voter-registration advantages Clinton holds in the state. 

Despite the political theatre of House Democrats staging their “sit-in” last week, Americans have grown weary of Washington spectacles and blame-shifting. So instead of appearing to care about gun legislation, Democrats came across as caring all about themselves, knowing nothing would come of their stunt and trying to benefit from it by fundraising off it. 

History shows that you cannot produce a wave election; such events evolve from the bottom up. 

Although anything could happen between now and November, the best way to see which party appears likely to win House and Senate majorities is to keep your eyes on Pennsylvania and Ohio — and to keep your eyes off the contrived spectacles. 

Salena Zito covers politics for the Tribune-Review (szito@tribweb.com).

Fascist Catholic-haters attempt to subvert the law.

Statutes of limitation go all the way back to English Common Law and exist to protect everyone involved. This proposed law is designed to bankrupt Catholic dioceses and slander the Church. Contact your state rep and state senator and stop this unconstitutional fraud.

From PennLive.com:


In a three-hour long hearing steeped in references to Pennsylvania case law, the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday heard expert testimony on the validity and viability of proposed legislation that would change how child sexual predators are prosecuted.

The hearing, which tipped markedly in favor of opponents of House Bill 1947, was held in a hearing room packed with victims advocates as well as past victims of sexual abuse. Many of them wiped away tears as a cadre of expert witnesses – with the exception of one – argued how the Pennsylvania Constitution prohibits the General Assembly from retroactively altering expired statutes of limitations.

The hearing, which featured five expert witnesses, only one testifying in support of the bill, focused on the constitutionality of the bill, which would impose look-back measures for past victims of abuse, including those molested by priests as children.
Much of the testimony centered around the state's constitutional remedies clause, which ostensibly bars the General Assembly from retroactively altering expired statutes of limitations.
Prior to the experts giving their testimony, Attorney General Kathleen Kane, who in March released findings of a grand jury report that found systemic child sex abuse over decades in the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese, delivered a short appeal.
 
Kane, whose law license has been suspended in the wake of criminal charges stemming from the grand jury leak investigation, begged the panel to pass the bill immediately.
"I'm asking you to do that because every single day that goes by... is a day more and more and more victims are denied justice," she said.

Kane said that if after approval of the bill,the Senate found that it violated the state's Constitution, lawmakers should "figure out a solution" to the constitutional issue, whether that meant amending it "or whatever needs to be done but make firm commitment" to finding a way that "we are never denying justice to anyone in the Commonwealth."

"We as government will prove by our actions that we support child survivors and their families and not cruel, cold-hearted criminals who prey upon our criminals," Kane said. "We will not protect the institutions that harbor them."

In contrast to Kane's opening remarks, the witnesses who followed reiterated respective arguments that the bill would not pass state Constitutional muster.

Coming on the heels of Kane's short appeal, the second-highest ranking official in her office, Bruce Castor, the solicitor general, testified that the bill would violate the remedies clause of the state's Constitution, and therefore, prove to be unconstitutional.

"House Bill 1947, if enacted into law in its current form and without amendment will, in our opinion, violate the remedies clause of the Pennsylvania Constitution," Castor argued. "Potential defendants, who have had the statute of limitations pass without their being subjected to suit, will rightly claim a vested right in the applicable statute of limitations."

 Castor said that while the bill represented "a laudable attempt to provide a remedy for a well identified social problem", the the General Assembly "in its zeal, cannot overrule a state constitutional right."

Castor based his conclusion in large part on a 1908 case involving a retroactive claim. In Lewis v. Pennsylvania Railroad Company, the  state Supreme Court ruled against the widow of railroad worker who had filed a negligence claim retroactively against the company. The court, Castor said, had concluded that "retroactive legislation that reduces a defendant's defenses or "exemptions from demands" cannot be applied where the defense has "vested."

The state's remedies clause states that "all courts shall be open; and every man for an injury done him in his lands, goods, person or reputation shall have remedy by due course of law, and right and justice administered without sale, denial or delay. Suits may be brought against the Commonwealth in such manner, in such courts and in such cases as the Legislature may by law direct."

House Bill 1947 came in the wake of the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese grand jury report as a groundswell of advocates called for reform in the law. The bill, which was approved in the House by a 180-15 vote, would eliminate all criminal statutes going forward on most child sex crimes and retroactively amend civil statutes. The bill would retroactively extend civil statutes that expired at a victim's age 30 to 50.

Castor was followed by three other speakers - all of them law experts - who reiterated his stance that the bill would violate the state's remedies clause...

Holy cow, Pennsylvania, our presidential primary might mean something this time!

Since only 17 of PA's delegates must vote for the statewide popular vote winner on April 26th, Ted Cruz has an excellent opportunity to keep Donatella Trumpsky from reaching the magic 1,237 number. Even now, I can hear poor Trumpsky whining about how he's too stupid and Cruz is too mean. Apparently, The Don'tnald feels he deserves to be given the nomination because he's too special to have to work for it.

Fuck him and the Know-Literally-Nothings who lick his tiny boots.

CHOOSE CRUZ!

Meanwhile, Pennsylvania [like Scotland] chose slavery.

The totalitarian imperative is alive and well in the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, however. We have elected everyone's favorite fascist chimera - the multimillionaire "friend of the little guy" who shall henceforth be known as Tom "Man Is Wolf to Man".

Our only hope is that the Repansycans in the the Legislature [who bear no small amount of blame for Corbett's failure] smack down this left-fascist toady early and often...but I'm not going to hold my breath.

From the Patriot-News:

Wolf faces tremendous hurdles in his first term

Tom Wolf trounced Gov. Tom Corbett in the polls...

MALKIN! MALKIN! MALKIN! [Michelle, not Evgeni. The stupid Penguins are killing me.]

GOSNELL: The movie Hollywood won’t make, but YOU can

 

Hannibal Lecter. Freddy Kreuger. Jason Voorhees. Charles Manson. Jeffrey Dahmer. Ted Bundy. Hollywood loves a homicidal monster. But what happens when an evil being exposes the monstrosities of malign government neglect and deadly ideology? Crickets.

Tinseltown couldn’t conjure a bigger nightmare than true-life Philadelphia serial killer Kermit Gosnell. He preyed on hundreds of poor minority women. He systematically executed hundreds of healthy, living, breathing, squirming, viable babies by stabbing them in their necks and severing spinal cords with scissors and knives. This twisted murderer kept baby feet in specimen jars, which he crammed into the grisly refrigerators of his filthy “clinic.” For “research.”




A year ago this month, the monster Gosnell was convicted of murdering three babies born alive in his death factory. He also was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death of one of his “patients,” 41-year-old Bhutanese refugee Karnamaya Mongar, who died of a barbarically administered drug overdose at Gosnell’s “Women’s Medical Society.”


Let me remind you that for 15 bloody years, public officials stood by and did nothing.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health knew of clinic violations dating back decades, but did nothing.

The Pennsylvania Department of State was “repeatedly confronted with evidence about Gosnell,” investigators found — including the clinic’s unclean, unsterile conditions, unlicensed workers, unsupervised sedation, underage abortion patients and over-prescribing of pain pills with high resale value on the street — “and repeatedly chose to do nothing.”

The Philadelphia Department of Public Health officials who regularly visited Gosnell’s human waste-clogged offices did nothing. [Emphasis mine. - F.G.]


"Thank you Slow Eddie Rendell and Catholic-In-Name-Only Tom Ridge, et al."      - Chopped up and discarded kids

Nearby hospital officials, who treated some of the pregnant mothers who suffered grave complications from Gosnell’s butchery, did nothing.

“Women’s health” advocates at the National Abortion Federation, the leading association of abortion providers that is supposed to uphold strict health and legal standards, determined that Gosnell’s chamber of horrors was “the worst abortion clinic she had ever inspected.” But they did nothing.

Hollywood bigwigs have not lifted a finger or raised a voice for the innocent victims of these criminal enterprises. But you can. Independent filmmakers Phelim McAleer and Ann McElhinney and their crew are producing a made-for-TV movie on Gosnell, whom they rightly dub “America’s Most Prolific Serial Killer.” These trailblazers have circumvented the information and entertainment gatekeepers before with their crowd-funded smash hit, “FrackNation.” They’re poised to upend the mainstream entertainment culture again. But they need your help.

For the past month, McAleer and McElhinney have conducted the largest-ever crowd-funding campaign in American history. Forced off of crowd-funding site Kickstarter by extreme pro-abortion censors, they are raising money on Indiegogo. Nearly 17,000 donors have contributed more than $1.6 million. The Gosnell moviemakers now have a little more than a week to reach their $2.1-million goal.

Why make a made-for-TV movie about Gosnell?

Because the Philadelphia Horror is a chilling tale of how mass murder, masquerading as “choice,” got a pass — and all Americans need to know about it.
Because there are vital lessons here for every daughter, mother and grandmother about the dangers of apathetic bureaucrats and the duplicity of “reproductive services” providers.

Because Gosnell may be behind bars now, but he is not alone.

California’s Dr. Andrew Rutland, Maryland’s Dr. Steven Brigham and Texas’ Dr. Douglas Karpen are just three of the Dr. Deaths who reportedly endangered women or killed babies born alive. Like Gosnell, Rutland killed an Asian woman after administering a drug overdose during a late-term abortion procedure. Like Gosnell, Brigham stored the bodies of late-term fetuses in freezers. Medical boards and health departments downplayed or whitewashed their murderous malpractice just like they did in Pennsylvania.

Thanks to McAleer and McElhinney’s vision, courage and tenacity, you can help end the cover-up once and for all. You can make a difference by donating at gosnellmovie.com. I can’t think of a better way to honor Mother’s Day: Show your reverence for life, help expose the truth, seize this cultural moment and make history.

 

Don't let your kiddies be indoctrinated.

From The Blaze:

Teacher Under Fire for Allegedly Telling Student to Remove Pro-Romney T-Shirt & Likening it to KKK Clothing

A high school teacher at Charles Carroll High School in Port Richmond, Philadelphia, is under investigation after allegedly ordering a student to remove a pro-Mitt Romney t-shirt. In addition to purportedly telling the female pupil to take off the clothing, the teacher also supposedly compared the shirt to a Ku Klux Klan outfit.

The student at the center of the story, 16-year-old Samantha Pawlucy, claims that she chose to wear the pink t-shirt for a dress-down day, during which students were invited to select their own clothing. The teacher’s comments, Pawlucy contends, were humiliating, as the geometry instructor reportedly encouraged other students — and teachers — to join in on mocking her.


“I was really embarrassed and shocked. I didn’t think she’d go in the hallway and scream to everyone,” Pawlucy explained in an interview with Philly.com. “It wasn’t scary, but it felt weird.”

In addition to telling the student that Carroll High School is a “Democratic school,” the teacher said that wearing the pro-Romney shirt is similar to the teacher, an African American, wearing a KKK shirt. Pawlucy had decided to wear the shirt after researching the candidates’ stances and landing on Romney as her choice in 2012.


Following the incident, Pawlucy decided to tell school officials — something the student was initially afraid to do. Already, she’s receiving some negative feedback from peers and those opposed to her decision.

“I have some friends that won’t talk to me anymore because of it,” she continued. “Because I told the principal what happened…they’re mad at me.”

Samantha Pawlucy (Photo Credit: Sharon Gekoski-Kimmel/Philly.com)

During a meeting with the principal and the teacher at the center of the dispute, Pawlucy’s parents attempted to rectify and better understand what unfolded. The teacher, though, apparently defended herself, said that she was joking and inevitably stormed out of the meeting.

An official complaint will be filed by the family with the district on Thursday. According to a Philadelphia School District spokesperson, the teacher has been moved to another classroom, as officials continue to investigate the incident.

(H/T: Daily Mail)

The Michael and Cathryn Borden Memorial Book of the Day.*

Want your kid to grow up to be an egomanical machine politician who wouldn't know a scruple if it kicked him in his fat ass? PA's own Slow Eddie Rendell has written the how-to book for you.

From PoliticsPA:

Rendell's Book: What They're Saying

Former Governor Ed Rendell takes two things very seriously: American politics, and of course, good old fashioned American sports.

The two come together in Rendell’s newly released book, A Nation of Wusses: How America’s Leaders Lost the Guts to Make Us Great. The title stems from nothing other than inevitable sports frustration. In December 2010, after a Philadelphia Eagles game was cancelled for snow, Rendell notoriously commented that America had become a “nation of wusses.”


Another loser from Loserdelphia.


Reviewers already have plenty to say on A Nation of Wusses, both complimentary and not so complimentary.


Philadelphia Inquirer:
Karen Heller, an Inquirer columnist, slammed A Nation of Wusses: “This is so not Ed.”


“Rendell made his reputation by speaking from his gut, which proved a gift to reporters – which we miss to this day! – when he wasn’t berating us (not so missed). His temper is volcanic and his judgement is often questionable.”


She even questioned his role in the work, questioning whether Rendell wrote the the book or it was “dictated.”


“With a Nation of Wusses, this self-professed ‘crafty politician’ had time think and edit himself…The result is a feat of backslapping bromides best suited for the award banquets Rendell claimed to loathe.”


She particularly criticized his omission of any comments on Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett.


To conclude, she called A Nation of Wusses “wussy”, Rendell’s worst nightmare.


Philadelphia Daily News:
Way back in early May, Chris Brennan talked Rendell and wusses.


“The book, A Nation of Wusses: How America’s Leaders Lost the Guts to Make Us Great, is classic Rendell. He marvels at his own clever political instincts, complains about the attention of the media and waxes on issues he holds dear, such as investing in the nation’s infrastructure of roads and bridges.”


“No Rendell book would be complete without a few bawdy bits. He introduces us to “Swifty,” a [very randy] donkey donated by a union to the Democratic Party when Rendell was national chairman in 2000.”


Brennan, like Heller, called the anti-wuss a wuss himself: “In a very wussie-like move, Rendell admits he could not anger the union by firing Swift so he exiled the donkey to fringes of the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles that year.”


Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
James O’Toole said the book was on the lighter side.


“But this book is not a deep dive into political theory. Rather, it is a light stew of anecdote and sound-bite-size arguments on how the nation can shake off its seeming inability to confront chronic problems.”


“Mr. Rendell proves so enamored of the term that won so much attention after the aborted Eagles game, that he repeats it, in one form or another, again, and again, and again, throughout the memoir.”


O’Toole had enough of this excessive use of “wuss” terms: “OK, Ed, we get it.”


Publisher’s Weekly:
While Publisher Weekly’s Mel Brook found some of Rendell’s arguments “sound”, he felt that overall, A Nation of Wusses wasn’t well executed.


“Former Pennsylvania governor Rendell promises big critiques and robust prescriptions in this scattered leadership manifesto and political memoir, but fails to deliver.”


“Later in the book, Rendell reasonably claims that there is no greater example of the wussification of America than the growing neglect of our nation’s infrastructure, but this scattershot collection of anecdotes, political autobiography, and fealty to the Clinton administration isn’t the best way to make a case for improving the government’s track record.”


Additionally, Brook said some of Rendell’s attacks were “undone by sloppiness.”


CBS News:
Annie McCormick, a CBS News reporter, called out Rendell’s seeming obsession with the Clintons.


“In fact, his love for the Clinton’s and their service is mentioned throughout his memoir. For a man who is known for his charisma he seems envious of Bill Clinton’s ability to work a room.”


However, McCormik did contend that the memoir wasn’t all work, no play.


“It’s really a memoir about the 30 plus years of his life in public service…The book is speckled with fun along the way. He talks sports, impromptu stops for cheese steaks with President Clinton and a lengthy piece on the DNC’s overexcited donkey.”


The Philly Post:
Unlike other reviewers, Tom McGrath, Philly Post contributor, found A Nation of Wusses to be ‘so Ed’ and had only glowing comments to make.


“That take — not to mention language — are quintessentially Rendellian, and A Nation of Wusses is filled with plenty of funny stories and insider accounts as only Ed can tell them.”


“I’m well aware that Rendell’s prescription for solving our problems — essentially, government needs to be more active — is likely to turn off as many people as it will excite in these highly polarized times. But reading the book you can’t help but be reminded of why Rendell has been the most powerful and dynamic Philadelphia political figure of our generation.”


The reasons why Rendell was the most powerful Philadelphia political figure? Rendell’s candor and passion for problem solving.


“Candor and problem solving — both of which fall under the now-quaint notion of “leadership” —  are two things decidedly lacking from our politics these days. No, Ed Rendell won’t be running for president, or probably anything else in the years to come. But our country could use a few more Eds — and far fewer wusses.”


Regardless of feedback, Rendell claims not to care. He told Jim Gardner with ABC News that “his book won’t top any NY Times bestseller list, but he hopes some people read it and think about what he wrote.”

*Huh? Look here.

The Mel Crapper, Jr. of Political "Science"...

...or, "Pay no attention to the man behind the polls."

In case you don't know, Mel Kuiper, Jr. is ESPN's NFL "draft expert". He created the position out of thin air and became rich without knowing a single thing about anything except self promotion.

G. "Wizz" Terry Madonna has done the exact same thing with political polling. 

From TPM:

Pennsylvania Poll: Obama Leads Romney By 12

 Once upon a time, kiddies, Unoriginal G. was a knownothing PoliSci prof at a D- II public university in Amishland. He used the serf kids in his classes to do polls and convinced one of the local yokel TV stations to put him and his polls on the air. Of course, he was labeled an "expert" so the peons would think ol' G. was chock full of gravitas.

After a couple of years of this nonsense, the Wizz was hired by Franklin & Marshall College, an elitist D-III institution in Lancaster, PA. [Rich kids without the grades to get into Ivy League schools go there.] Along with a bump in pay, G. got himself a whole bunch of establishment street cred and now you'd think he was the only person in the Commonwealth who knows anything about politics.

At least that is what the chattering classes want you to think.

As Rick Santorum reminded us a couple of months ago, G. is nothing but a failed local Democrass pol. [He couldn't even win the one Lancaster County Commissioner seat guaranteed to go to the top Democrass vote-getter.]

So the next time you see a F&M poll announcing the primacy of crony communism in our Commonwealth, remember that little Terry just made it all up so he could pretend to be a big shot.

Totalitarian Pennsylvania Update.

Wow, one will soon be able to defend oneself in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Imagine that.

Corbett will sign Castle Doctrine - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

HARRISBURG -- Without debate, the state Senate today approved a bill expanding self-defense rights and sent it to Gov. Tom Corbett for his signature.

Corbett will sign the bill, said his spokesman Kevin Harley.

By a 45-5 vote, the Senate approved an expansion of the so-called Castle Doctrine.

Under current law, a person can use deadly force -- without retreat -- in his or her home. Outside the home, using lethal force to defend oneself requires first taking steps away from an assailant. The bill approved today allows someone to shoot an attacker without retreat outside the home -- anywhere a person is legally allowed to be.

Supporters called it "stand your ground" legislation. Critics call it "shoot first" legislation.

During a lengthy House debate in April, opponents claimed the bill if enacted would create a "Wild West" mentality in Pennsylvania. But those voting for the bill said it sends a message to criminals that people will no longer be fearful of lawsuits or prosecution if they act when their lives are at risk.

Politicians don't really care about the poor and helpless. They only care about power.

Pennsylvania faces a $4 billion budget shortfall thanks to Slow Eddie Rendell and Ol' Jug Ears. Governor Corbett's budget saves the money by cutting middle class entitlements and subsidies to public employee unions while keeping intact the Commonwealth's programs to help the poor, homeless, and battered women.

The PA House Repansycans have produced their own budget which would restore higher education cuts for the middle class and public teacher unions in order to buy votes and preserve their power. These funds are cut from programs for the poor and abused.

All emphasis below is mine.


From the Main Line Times:

PA House Republicans propose a softening to Corbett's budget

HARRISBURG (AP) — Pennsylvania's state House Republican majority on Tuesday revealed more details of a counterproposal to Gov. Tom Corbett's budget plan that suggests softening some of the governor's cuts in education by cutting money from public welfare programs.

In a statement, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Bill Adolph said the plan would restore $387 million to 18 state-supported universities and $210 million to public schools.

"We are committed to easing what we believe was an unfair burden placed on local school districts, colleges and universities" in Corbett's budget proposal, Adolph said in the statement.

To absorb a $4.2 billion projected deficit in the fiscal year beginning July 1, Corbett has proposed $2.6 billion in spending cuts and other measures that do not require raising taxes. His $27.3 billion proposed budget represents nearly a 3 percent reduction from approved spending in the current fiscal year.

His biggest cuts would be to education, slashing more than $1.6 billion in state aid for public schools and the 18 universities.

The education cuts have drawn criticism from both Republicans and Democrats in the Legislature.

Many of the state's school districts, particularly the poorest ones, are preparing to raise taxes, lay off staff, end programs or close buildings to absorb expected cuts in state aid. University leaders have also warned about belt-tightening, including the potential that tuition would have to rise.

Under the state constitution, budget legislation must begin in the House and would need Senate approval before going to Corbett's desk.

Like Corbett's plan, the House GOP counterproposal would budget $27.3 billion for the 2011-12 fiscal year that begins July 1, and it would not raise any taxes.

Under the House GOP plan, the State System of Higher Education, which includes 14 universities, would see a 15 percent cut in state aid from the current fiscal year. Four state-related universities — Penn State, Pittsburgh, Temple and Lincoln — would see a 25 percent reduction in state aid.

Public schools would still have to sustain about cuts of about $1 billion, or about 10 percent.

House Republicans propose taking $470 million out of programs in the Department of Public Welfare, which oversees about $11 billion in social service and health care programs for the poor, children, disabled and elderly.

House Republicans say they believe the state can save money in the programs by cutting down on fraud, waste and abuse.

Yeah, you guys make that one work every time.

Corbett, however, has said he cannot create a budget based on projected savings from lessening waste, fraud and abuse. Democrats say taking money from public welfare programs could further damage the state's social safety net.

Corbett and House Republicans oppose calls to ease budget cuts by using a surplus that totaled more than $500 million at the end of April. Corbett has said he worried that the money might be needed if the economy skidded or tax collections in May or June are disappointing.

Democrats and labor unions have criticized the Republicans' refusal to use surplus dollars to ease spending cuts.

"Instead of playing the blame game, the governor and state lawmakers can help improve public education by providing the resources to help all students," the president of the state's largest teachers' union, James Testerman, said in a statement Tuesday. "Legislators can stop the governor's proposed cuts."

Totalitarian Pennsylvania Update.

The forces of darkness continue their war against Catholics, freedom, and those who actually work for a living. Let us pray the Repansycans grow a spine.


From the Pottstown Mercury:

Amended school choice voucher bill moves forward, but vote delayed

HARRISBURG — A proposal to create a school voucher program for Pennsylvania cleared a major hurdle Monday, but a scheduled Tuesday vote on the bill was delayed until at least April 26 so that the bill could be revised, Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi said. The Senate Appropriations Committee approved the school choice bill Monday afternoon with a vote 15-11.

The committee had amended the measure to address concerns from both sides of the political spectrum about the cost, accountability and eligibility of the voucher program created in S.B. 1.

The major change made by the Appropriations Committee on Monday was expansion of eligibility to allow the parents of middle-class students to take advantage of the proposed voucher program.

Under the new changes to the bill, the state will establish a middle-class scholarship program in the fourth year after S.B. 1 becomes law.

During the first three years of the program, eligibility will be capped at 130 percent of the federal poverty level — equal to $28,665 for a family of four this year. Only students attending the state’s 144 “persistently lowest-achieving schools” would be eligible for the voucher program during the first two years.

With the addition of the middle class scholarship program, eligibility will increase to 300 percent of the federal poverty level — equal to $66,150 for a family of four this year.

The committee also voted to require public schools that choose to participate in the school choice program to accept transfer students by a lottery system, rather than on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Private schools will not be subject to the lottery provision and will be allowed to accept transfer students based on their current enrollment criteria.

“There is nothing in this bill that forces any school, public or private, to participate,” said state Sen. Jeffrey Piccola, R-Dauphin, chairman of the Senate Education Committee.

Without the lottery system, some Democrats argued, the bill would allow schools to “cherry pick” the best students and deny others the opportunity for choice.

“This conversation has always been about parents having a choice, but now there is this emphasis on the school’s having the choice,” said state Sen. Larry Farnese, D-Philadelphia. “A lottery system seems to be the fairest way to do this.”

Among the other changes made by the committee Monday was placing a $250 million cap on the third year of the voucher program, when the eligibility expands from only poor children in failing schools to all low-income children in the state.

The $250 million cap on the vouchers will apply only to poor students who are already attending private schools and wish to take advantage of the vouchers, and there will be no cap on poor students leaving public schools for other public or non-public schools.

In the fourth year, available funds above and beyond the $250 million cap will be used to fund the middle class scholarship program, said Piccola.

The expanded eligibility for the fourth year and beyond aims to address concerns among some on the right about which students can benefit from the legislation. While the majority of grassroots groups on the right support the legislation, some have been critical of S.B. 1 for being restricted to lower income families.

The amendment also requires participating non-public schools to administer annual tests to voucher students so the state can track the performance of those students in grades 3, 5, 8 and 11. All public school students are subject to the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests in those grades.

The amendment does not require non-public schools to use the PSSA tests, but the schools must administer it or another standardized achievement test and must report aggregate scores to the state and to parents.

Piccola said the law did not include the PSSA tests specifically because that would require regulating the curriculum of the non-public schools.

The bill was voted out of committee mostly along party lines, with Republican state Sens. Lisa Baker, of Luzerne, Stewart Greenleaf, of Montgomery, and Patricia Vance, of Cumberland, voting against the bill.

Farnese and fellow Democratic state Sen. Lisa Boscola, Northampton, supported it.

Earlier Friday, a coalition of more than 20 interest groups unified their opposition to the voucher program. Led by the Pennsylvania State Education Association, the state’s largest teachers’ union, the group presented the results of a poll showing 61 percent of Pennsylvanians oppose the voucher idea.

They claimed the voucher bill would cost state taxpayers up to $1 billion and would drain poor and struggling public schools of students and tax dollars while forcing property tax increases to make up the difference.

Piccola said the bill would not cost taxpayers additional funds, since the money used for the voucher program would come from the state’s basic education subsidy, which already exists. Instead of spending more funds, the bill would redirect funds that already are appropriated on an annual basis.

In the proposal passed to the Senate, the state’s portion of the per-student funding for school districts would follow the student to the new school. All local tax revenues still would go to the local school district.

State Sen. Andrew Dinniman, D-19th Dist., supported the bill when it was first voted out of the education committee, mostly, he said, because he was promised concerns he has about it would get a hearing.

Early last month, Dinniman said he supports the purpose of the bill for the first two years of its three-year phase-in period

“I have no problem with the first two years. Those schools are at the bottom of the pile and no one really knows what to do about them,” Dinniman said at the time. “We’ve given them more state money and still, no change, so vouchers make some sense there because we’ve had decades of poor performance and it is immoral and unethical to allow it to continue.”

However, in the third year after the bill is enacted, it would apply statewide for students whose households are at 130 percent of the poverty line and that is not something Dinniman said he can support without some caveats.

“I’ve seen estimates that say this is going to pull $84 million to $1 billion out of public school budgets and no one can tell me where that money is going to come from if the state does not provide alternative funding,” said Dinniman.

Attempts to reach Dinniman Tuesday to find out if he still supports the bill as it stands now were unsuccessful.

He had supported one funding method proposed, the expansion of a tax credit which would allow businesses to donate to schools — public and private — in exchange for a tax break.

State Rep. Tom Quigley, R-146th Dist., said a bill in the House Education Committee would expand that tax break and is likely to be incorporated into the final version.

State Sen. Daylin Leach, D-Montgomery, was among those protesting the bill during the press conference.

He called the bill an “open ended entitlement” in the third year and beyond, when it opens up to more than the poorest students in the state.

“This bill not only does an injustice to our students and schools by leaving the unluckiest of the lot out to dry, but it also hurts Pennsylvania’s school system by exacerbating the pain dealt by Corbett’s proposed budgetary cuts,” Leach said. “Incorporating vouchers into the mix would only deepen the financial wounds for many schools across the state.”

State Sen. Mary Jo White, R-Venango, said the bill was not perfect but created a better opportunity for students across the state.

“I am an opponent of failing public schools, not of public education,” White said. “I cannot sit back and watch us fail these kids again.”



The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review offers an opinion on the corruption inherent in the Government Indoctrination System:

Shafting taxpayers: Stop this perversion
Pennsylvania's 500 public school districts funneled more than $59 million of taxpayer money in 2009-10 to groups whose lobbying against taxpayer interests and those of underserved children belies their innocuous names.

That's the finding of a preliminary analysis by the Commonwealth Foundation of data obtained via open-records requests from 380 districts (120 have yet to respond). The figure includes dues and other payments to teachers unions and state associations for gifted children, curriculum development, principals, administrators, business officials, middle schools, boards and counselors.

That $59 million-plus could have boosted education but didn't. Instead, it went to groups whose common interest is maintaining the union-friendly, tax-and-spend status quo.

Most lobby for ever more state education funding. And most are in a coalition that just protested in Harrisburg against state Senate Bill 1's proposed vouchers for low-income students, according to the foundation's Nate Benefield. He says those members fight for unionized employees, not students.

That school districts enable such groups with tax dollars is one more thing about Pennsylvania's educratic status quo that cannot stand.

DING-DONG, THE DING-DONG'S DEAD!

Well, politically dead. Ol' Senator Brain Damage will continue to haul his carcass to DC until next January. Intellectually, he never existed at all.
What a joyous day in Totalitarian Pennsylvania! And all The Party of Blasphemy, Buggery, and 'Bortion did was run a Sleestak against Mumblin' Arlen.
Of course, it wasn't just any old Sleestak from Land of the Lost [see 1970's TV, kiddies, not that miserable movie]. Nope, they found themselves a "retired" Admiral Sleestak. Imagine that! A Democrass with an actual war record...
Well, maybe. It seems the U.S. Navy whacked Admiral Sleestak for some sort of misbehavior, but he won't release his records, so we don't know exactly what kind of moron, goofball, or pervert Sleestak is.
HE SOUNDS LIKE THE KIND OF GUY WHO GETS ELECTED TO THE SENATE FROM PENNSYLVANIA!
Get used to hearing "Senator Sleestak" starting in November.

BTW, congrats to Slow Eddie and the Jug-Eared Commie Creep for doing "everything they could" to help poor old Arlen.

Totalitarian Pennsylvania is a national joke.

Steve "Side-Saddle" Reed, Mayor For Life of Pennsylvania's capital, gets smacked by reality about as hard as he's beaten the city's budget over the years.

And he wonders why everyone has fled to the suburbs...

The Sentinel: Harrisburg mayor’s dream of the old West is readied for auction in Texas

The mayor of one of Pennsylvania’s most debt-laden cities spent millions of dollars in public money on everything from covered wagons to copper marshal’s badges for a museum about cowboys, Indians and the Wild West.

He did so even though the city is on the other side of the country from the prairies, mining towns and honky tonks of the old West and without telling city council members, who learned about it from a newspaper reporter.

Sound bizarre?

It’s true, and the other cowboy boot is poised to drop Saturday, when bidding starts on hundreds of items at a Dallas hotel — a step that council members forced to try to address a shortfall in the city budget.

The stakes are high for Harrisburg, a city of 47,000 that is best known as Pennsylvania’s capital, 95 miles west of Philadelphia and 1,400 miles east of Deadwood, S.D.

With the city deep in debt, council members will be watching closely to see how much can be reclaimed from the roughly $6.5 million that Mayor Stephen R. Reed said he spent on guns and other old West collectibles.

“If we get less, then it’s just a big mistake and it’s unfortunate for the people of Harrisburg,” said Councilman Dan Miller.

I guess we should be thankful ol' Bareback Reed did not blow the $6.5 million on statues of himself like Stalin did.

When Reed became Harrisburg’s mayor in 1982, his dream was to transform the decaying, shrinking city into a cultural destination, a “city of light” on the Susquehanna River.

Distopia, anyone?

Under Reed’s leadership, hotels and restaurants have sprouted in downtown and the number of businesses on the city’s tax rolls has more than quadrupled. A minor-league baseball team now plays on a park that rose from a trash dump on an island in the Susquehanna.

In 2001, Reed opened the National Civil War Museum on an abandoned reservoir overlooking the Capitol — even though none of the war’s major battles played out in the city. His dream of building the National Museum of the Old West next to it stalled.

“I still think it’s a good idea,” he told reporters at an unrelated public event Tuesday. But, “we need the money right now.”

The man is a certifiable lunatic. Or just an average politician.

Steve, the city had the money. You wasted the money. You are a thief and a liar.

Bad divine right monarch! Bad!

Reed did not return repeated messages The Associated Press left with an aide, but has defended his spending as perfectly legal. The auction will include items from six collections, and is being touted as the largest Western-related collection ever auctioned.

“This is your unique opportunity to share in this history,” Reed wrote in a letter printed in an auction catalog. “This is an auction like no other.”

To buy the items, Reed tapped an account at the Harrisburg Authority, where his expenditures were approved by officials he had appointed. The authority, which now includes council appointees, oversees parts of the city’s infrastructure and raises money by collecting fees on bond issues it brokers for government agencies.

At least one Harrisburg Authority official contends that some of the money Reed spent should have been off limits for the museums, and questions whether the mayor, in a shopping frenzy, unwittingly paid bloated prices for items that could be fakes.

Reed shelled out close to $30 million on old West, Civil War and other collectibles over 15 years — he even bought an Egyptian mummy — while the city was sliding deeper into debt, said the official, Eric Papenfuse, a council appointee who is the authority’s treasurer.

Certifiable.

City employees are only beginning to catalog what Reed actually bought. Many items, including a 12-gun schooner that was part of Gen. Benedict Arnold’s fleet during the Revolutionary War, are still stuffed into warehouses and storage rooms at city facilities, Papenfuse said.

Steverino heard Arnold had something to do with West Point and, being a brainless statist, naturally thought the schooner was perfect for his Wild West Extravaganza.

“The spending is staggering,” he said. “It’s unbelievable.”

About 800 of the thousands of old West items from Harrisburg are scheduled to be auctioned by Dallas-based Heritage Auction Galleries over two days beginning Saturday. Another two-day auction is scheduled in April and some items will be sold on eBay.

For sale are covered wagons, marshal’s badges, boots, chaps, saddles, “Wanted” posters, letters, photographs, maps, furniture, pottery, decor, artwork, pistols, rifles, knives and more. One item expected to fetch tens of thousands of dollars is a bright red Wells Fargo & Co. stage coach, still in working condition.

Claims about the size of the auction raised eyebrows among dealers. One said he believes the items should bring in more than Reed paid, claiming that a weak dollar is drawing many buyers, including Europeans, into collectibles.

Way to squander your country's heritage, you pinhead. Some decadent foreign potentate is going to use that stage coach as a place to deflower the new members of his harem.

[BTW, Hitler had a thing for cowboy stories, too. I guess men who are less than men like to fantasize about being real men. I wonder if the Mayor For Life parades around his house dressed as Patton?]

“The Western market today has gone extremely wild,” said Don Cappa, a Deer Lodge, Mont., collector and appraiser.

William W. Savage Jr., a professor of western American history at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Okla., laughed out loud when a reporter described the plans for the museum in Pennsylvania.

It is not so funny if you have to live in the middle of the tyranny, Bill.

The Keystone State is known more for its Civil and Revolutionary War history — say, Gettysburg or Valley Forge — than Wild Bill Hickok or the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

If anything, Pennsylvania was something of a launching pad for explorers, being the birthplace of the Conestoga Wagon and the Pennsylvania Rifle, Savage said.

“I wouldn’t say it was the Wild West, but it certainly figures into frontier expansion,” he said.

Miller, the councilman, said that the way Reed pursued the idea was embarrassing. There was no public discussion, no professional to draw up a plan and no curator to create a collection.

“A responsible city would not have gone about it in this way,” he said.

That, kiddies, is the bottom line. The rule of men rather than the rule of law leads invariably to tyranny. Sure, it is only petty tyranny today, but remember that Stalin got his start robbing little banks in the middle of nowhere.

Totalitarian Pennsylvania Update.

Congrats, fellow Keystone Staters, for rewarding the thieves who violated the same constitution they swore to uphold and defend. I do not want to hear any of you whine the next time they make up a law out of thin air.

Harrisburg Patriot-News: Voters say yes to judges

The 'vote no' campaign on judicial retention fizzles as judges are retained by wide margins.