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There are no appropriate words for this letter in today’s P-G other than EPIC FAIL:

Pittsburgh put on a good show for the world, but let’s be honest with ourselves. A tree fell on my street Sunday morning, knocking out power. It took Duquesne Light 41/2 hours just to dispatch a tree crew, and hours beyond that to restore service.

Our infrastructure is in shambles. Monopolies rule, whether it’s the utilities or our various municipalities. World-class, indeed.

KEN HERZ
Squirrel Hill

HOLY COW, it took 4 1/2 hours (or was it 41/2 hours, that is, 20.5?) for them to send a crew to take care of a tree that knocked out power on YOUR street (nobody else’s)… on SUNDAY MORNING? How did you EVER survive??? Well that PROVES it – our nation is doomed – DOOMED!

I wonder if Ken would like Duquesne Light to pay for the psychiatric bill he almost certainly needed to help him deal with the mental anguish of being without electricity for a few hours on a Sunday. Come on… it’s not like the Steelers game was on in the morning.

Update

I have just printed out this letter and put it on the fridge. Seriously. It’s funnier than anything in the comics today!

Heh.

Paterno was interviewed for a pre-game show and asked if he ever Twittered. (Bear in mind that Joe must have heard this with a small “t.”) He said he had, but that was a long time ago, when he was in high school and looking at pretty girls.

Nice work, dopes.

Andrew Eldredge-Martin is the campaign manager for Doug Pike, a Democrat running in Pennsylvania’s Sixth Congressional District. Drew, who has posted here as DrewEM, used sockpuppet accounts to post disparaging remarks about another Democrat running in the PA-06 primary at the Swing State Project (a sister site of Daily Kos of which I am the publisher).

As it turns out, Drew also used a sockpuppet account at Daily Kos over the years to comment on two other races he managed, Bob Lord’s campaign against John Shadegg in AZ-03 in 2008, and Chris Carney’s campaign against Don Sherwood in PA-10 in 2006. Needless to say, this kind of behavior is completely unacceptable. If campaign officials have something to say about the very race they’re working on, then it is mandatory that they speak out in their own voice. Pretending to be an impartial observer, especially for the purposes of spreading negative information about opponents, is a complete violation of our trust. For the most senior official, a campaign manager, to do so is especially unacceptable.

I offered Drew the chance to apologize, and told him I would include any apology in this post. Not only did I never hear back, but it appears Drew used the opportunity to edit the bio and signature line of his sockpuppet account, in a belated attempt at transparency. This information was not present in the sockpuppet account when we first discovered Drew’s malfeasance. (Drew’s behavior also stands in marked contrast to that of another senior campaign official, who, when confronted about similar activities, offered a complete apology.)

In the bigger scheme of things, it’s not really a game changer… maybe evidence of a sloppy online operation… but it certainly speaks to the honesty of the DailyKos community to police these things.

(tip to Above Avg Jane)

W00!

Three years in a row!

Hmmm….if Matthews is in for Lieutenant Governor….

….and Hoeffel is in for Governor….

Look, I don’t want to get the rest of Pennsylvania’s hopes up, but if the stars align, perhaps the entire Commonwealth can experience the same joy of bi-partisan power-sharing that the good people of Montgomery County got to enjoy for the last year.

Clearfield Progress:

“I’m putting my team together shortly. I am going to be a candidate for lieutenant governor,” Jim Matthews, Montgomery County Commissioner, said last night when asked by The Progress about his future plans after his speech in Luthersburg to fellow Republicans.

Matthews was the unsuccessful 2006 Republican candidate for lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania as Lynn Swann’s running mate.

As is required by law, we should be expecting to see Commissioner Matthews’ resignation from Montgomery County’s Board of Elections shortly.

In case you missed it, there was a minor kerfuffle last week over the timing of fellow Montco Commissioner Joe Hoeffel’s resignation from the Board of Elections after his announcement.

The linked story is from nearly two weeks ago. I wonder what he’s waiting for.

Twelve weeks overdue? Maybe thirteen?

Jason High (Sen Eichelberger staffer) on Facebook:

Jason High Stuck in Harrisburg hoping to get a budget done. News tonight is that the House D’s don’t have the votes to get the deal done. If that’s true…we’re back to square one.

Way to go Dems.

According to Democrat Congressman Alan Grayson, the Republicans just want you to “die quickly” if you get sick. This is similar to the Dems’ old “Bush just likes to torture and kill people” talking point which served them well for several years.

Nevermind that every attempt Republicans have made to expand competition in the health insurance business and thus improve quality and reduce prices has been blocked by the Democrats, who will accept no solution which does not involve a massive expansion of the federal government.

Also of note here is that the writer of this article, Ben Evans of the Associated Press, apparently does not know who Michael Steele is:

Rep. Tom Price of Georgia, who heads the party’s conservative Republican Study Committee, was planning to introduce a “resolution of disapproval” over Grayson’s behavior that mirrors one Democrats approved against Wilson. Michael Steel, a spokesman for House Republican leader John Boehner, said Boehner supports the resolution.

You would think that a reporter with the AP would know that Michael SteelE is the Chairman of the Republican National Committee, not a spokesmouth for Boehner.

That article was published at about noon today. Ben Evans came out with another article on the same topic at about 5PM today, and it seems as though someone bothered to tell him who Michael Steele was before this one was published.

Update

I stand corrected! Looks like Boehner does have a spokesman named “Michael Steel” with no “e” after all, who is a different person from RNC Chairman Michael Steele. Good for you, Associated Press. Bad for me!

Today is National Mud Pack Day, so get out there and start slinging and packing.

On this day sixty years ago [the formal date is October 1st, but because we are east of the international dateline we should note it today] the People’s Republic of China was established. Under the leadership of Mao Zhedong the PRC became perhaps the most brutal regime in human history. It is estimated that policies instituted under Mao resulted in approximately 70 million excess peacetime deaths. Together with casualties inflicted during the Communist drive to power, Mao was probably responsible for more than 100 million deaths. He was easily the most lethal ruler ever [Stalin and Hitler don't even come close]. Supporters of Mao argue that such extreme measures were necessary to bring about Chinese independence, to restructure the nation’s economy, and to establish a regime based on social justice. Others, myself included, would disagree. The reign of terror did not end until Mao’s death in 1976.

Compared to that anything else I might note fades into insignificance, although, for the benefit of the movie buffs among you, I should note that today is James Dean’s deathday.

Big victory for Republican Bob Mensch in the 24th Senate District.

With a 100% of the districts reporting, Mensch takes 66.2% of the votes, to Scheuring’s 30.3%.

His victory is at least 10 points better, than the prior two elections which included the incumbent Rob Wonderling.

Maybe it was Mensch getting his voters out in big(ger) numbers or the voters first opportunity to show displeasure with Democrats, or as Nate Benefield emails, Mensch’s anti-tax positions … either way – the Democrats need to be concerned going into this fall’s local elections or next year’s gubernatorial or federal elections.

Senator-Elect Mensch will have to wait for the election’s results to be certified before he’s sworn into his office.

As to the replacement for his state house seat… the special election would need to be called by the Speaker of the House (Democrat Keith McCall). Given the balance of power in the House and the 147th’s strong Republican lean, don’t look for the election to be anytime soon.

Quite possibly even in the spring.