Sign the Petition

The above map shows southeast gerrymandered Pennsylvania.

SB361 has been reintroduced in the Pennsylvania Senate.  This is an amendment to the state Constitution and it changes the rules for redistricting.  It takes politics out of the process and defines the shape of districts.  You can read the amendment here.

(b) (1) The bureau shall acquire appropriate information,
review and evaluate available facilities and develop programs and procedures, which may include the use of mapping software, in preparation for drawing congressional and legislative redistricting plans on the basis of each Federal census.

And then there is this which clearly defines how a district is to drawn and what tool is to be used for redistricting.  It also indicates which tools cannot be used for redistricting.

(2)To the extent consistent with paragraph (1), district boundaries shall coincide with the boundaries of political subdivisions of this Commonwealth. The number of counties and cities divided among more than one district shall be as small as possible. When there is a choice between dividing local political subdivisions, the more populous subdivisions shall be divided before the less populous, but this statement does not apply to a legislative district boundary drawn along a county line which passes through a city that lies in more than one county.

(3) Districts shall be composed of convenient contiguous territory. Areas which meet only at the points of adjoining corners are not contiguous.

(4) It is preferable that districts be compact in form, but the standards established by paragraphs (1), (2) and (3) take precedence over compactness where a conflict arises between compactness and these standards. In general, compact districts are those which are square, rectangular or hexagonal in shape to the extent permitted by natural or political boundaries.

(5) Districts should represent communities of interest as reflected by common economic patterns of production and

consumption, school district boundaries, cultural activities, self-identification, media coverage and other relevant demographic information.

(6) However, no district shall be drawn for the purpose of favoring a political party, incumbent legislator or member of Congress or other person or group. In establishing districts, no use shall be made of any of the following data:

(i) Addresses of incumbent legislators or members of Congress.

(ii) Political affiliations of registered voters.

(iii) Previous election results.

You can sign the petition here.

May the citizens of Pennsylvania be heard!  Speak Up!  Contact your state Senator and let them know that you support this amendment.

Congressional Reform Act of 2011

Congressional Reform Act of 2011

The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only 3 months & 8 days to be ratified! Why? Simple! The people demanded it. That was in 1971…before computers, before e-mail, before cell phones, etc. Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took 1 year or less to become the law of the land…all because of public pressure.

1. No Tenure / No Pension. A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.

2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security. All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.

3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.

4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.

6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.

7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/12. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen. Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves.

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.

I Want My Country Back

Yes, you heard me.  I want my country back… back from the Tea Party and the big corporations that financially support them.  I do NOT want my country to return to the Tea Party and Republican principles of:

• Repealing the Civil Rights Act because the central Government should not tell States how to treat American citizens.
• Eliminating the 19th Amendment to the Constitution.  Women should not be voting.  They don’t have time for politics because they need to be in the kitchen cooking and they should be waiting on their husbands.  The bible tells us that women are subservient to men.
• Returning to slave labor and sweat shop labor practices because businesses should be free to abuse their employees without Government interference.
• Dismantling Social Security because seniors should have planned better for their retirement.  Too bad and too sad if Wall Street bankers stole most of their IRA money.  Tough luck if the seniors worked at jobs that didn’t have a pension program or 401K program.  If these seniors worked for minimum wage, they still should have thought ahead even if it required providing less food and clothing for their children so that they would have that extra money to save for their retirement.  Some Republican candidates are claiming that Social Security is unconstitutional.
• Dismantling Medicare because health care is not a right, it is a privilege and the Tea Party does not approve of privileges except when it comes to their idols and themselves.  Besides, only the privileged deserve health care.
• Eliminating disability payments because people need to be more responsible and not get injured on the job.  This includes our military veterans.  They should stop whining because after all, they volunteered.
• Forcing Catholics, Jews and Muslims to commit sins by having to read and study the protestant bible in public schools.
• Allowing property owners to create toll roads.  People have a right to collect money from anyone that crosses their property line.  Good luck with getting to work on time and having any money left over from your paycheck after paying all the tolls.
• Supporting “Second Amendment” solutions as a means of conflict resolution.  This might also work as a method of population control.
• Returning to the glory days of lords and serfs.

I want my country back from hate mongers like Beck, Palin, Limbaugh, Malkin, Kristol, Bachmann, Rove, Cheney, and all the rest that appear on Fox News, the opinion network.  The goals for these people are to divide our country and to make piles of money while undereducated people do their dirty work for them.

I want my country back from racists such as Beck, Laura Schlesinger, the Tea Party and the Larouches.  These people are so upset because there is a black family living in, what they perceive as, the White(‘s only) House.

I want my country back from people that profit from the suffering of others (Beck, Palin and Limbaugh).

I want my country back from politicians that place Wall Street above and before Main Street, such as Pat Toomey, Tom Corbett, Jim Gerlach and all the other Republicans and Tea Party members.

Yes, I want my country back.  The one where everyone is treated with respect and  equality, the one where everyone receives good health care, the one where everyone receives a livable wage, and the one where everyone is free to practice their religious beliefs without interference from other religions.

I want back, the country that was progresing forward.  Not the one that is currently heading in Reverse.

In the Name of God

Many Gods, which one shall I choose?

When it comes to gay rights and abortion rights and refusal of medical treatment based on one’s religion beliefs, it’s the old Government vs Religion issue. My question is “which religion and whose religion” has the most control? The authors of the Constitution knew exactly what they were doing when they kept religion OUT of the Constitution. When our Constitution was going through ratification by the 13 original states, there was a group of delegates to the Massachusetts state convention that complained that the “Constitution did not recognize the existence of God”.

It was a wise group of delegates that attended the Constitutional Convention held in Philadelphia during the summer of 1787. They were well aware that religion and politics did not mix. Right after the arrival of independence, every state but Rhode Island passed laws depriving Catholics of full civil and religious rights. There were some states that denied Catholics the right to carry their own arms while everyone else was allowed to do so. Even though Catholics were given the same rights of freedom to worship as they believed by the Constitution, it wasn’t until 1960 that a Catholic was elected President of the United States of America. When John F. Kennedy was running for President, the media was filled with questions about his religion and its connection to the Pope in Rome. There was a fear that America would be governed by the Pope if John Kennedy was elected President.

For the last 8 years, we have had to put up with this quest by the fundamentalists to be governed by religion. Do take note that this religion has to be the fundamentalist/evangelical religions as preached by religious leaders such as James Dobson and Rick Warren. The Rev. Wright is NOT included in this because he is black and I’m not even going to go there at this moment. There is no room in this religious governing for Catholics, Muslims, Hindus, Jews, Agnostics and any other religion that isn’t part of the Dobson/Warren cults.

Let’s not forget our nation’s shameful history of mixing religion and politics. It was during the McCarthy reign of terror in the 1950’s that the statement “under God” was added to the Pledge of Allegiance. People didn’t complain because anyone that spoke against including religion in our government, was called a communist and would be blacklisted. In 1692, there were the Salem witch hunts and trials.  Even slave owners would quote the Bible as justification for owning slaves.

We were witness to the destruction of religious intolerance on September 11, 2001 and today, the Palestinians are paying with their lives because of the religious intolerance of Israel.  There is a place for everything and history has taught us that religion does not have a place in government.  Too many people and other creatures have lost their lives in the “name of God”.

Ban Same Sex Marriage… NOT

…. unless you add “Till death do us part” and “adultery punishable by stoning to death the adulterer”.

The honorable Gen. JC Christian, Patriot at http://patriotboy.blogspot.com has generously provided ads with these poster boys for “The Marriage Protection” amendment.

Mr. Tappy Toes

Mr. Pampers

When you get the chance, stop by and say “hello” to the General.