The Al Franken Decade Begins

I first became aware of Al Franken as a political figure after reading his book "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right" Gotta love the way he puts Bill O'Lielly in his place. If Franken should call someone a liar on the Senate floor it will make for some interesting C-Span programming. Franken also penned a best selling book called "Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot: And Other Observations" Gotta love that title. Franken is my kinda guy. Smart, funny, outspoken and honest. I never did get to hear him on Air America radio, since the radio stations in the Lehigh Valley are dominated by right wingnut talk shows. Some facts you may not know about Al Franken:

He graduated from Harvard in 1973: Political Science

He scored a perfect 800 on the SAT Math section

He won 3 Emmy Awards for his writing on Saturday Night Live

He holds strongly progressive liberal beliefs

More at this site: http://usliberals.about.com/od/senatecandidatesin2008/p/AlFranken.htm

Now that Al Franken has won and will finally take his place in the Senate, the Democrats will have a filibuster proof 60 vote-majority in the US Senate. But will that really make a difference?

Senators Kennedy and Byrd are ill, and possibly not in attendance, so that could be only 58. There are two Independents, Lieberman and Sanders, but Sanders is from Vermont and is very liberal, and has spoken out in favor of a public health care option. Lieberman leans right. So it could be only 57.

What will be the Democrats' excuse for not getting things done now? Lack of bipartisan support? Been bought off by the insurance companies and drug companies? It's time for Senators to stop being pusillanimous and pass a public universal health care option, really fight for equal rights for gays, ban assault weapons, and represent THE PEOPLE for a change, not just the campaign donors and lobbyists.

The Al Franken Decade Begins

I first became aware of Al Franken as a political figure after reading his book "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right" Gotta love the way he puts Bill O'Lielly in his place. If Franken should call someone a liar on the Senate floor it will make for some interesting C-Span programming. Franken also penned a best selling book called "Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot: And Other Observations" Gotta love that title. Franken is my kinda guy. Smart, funny, outspoken and honest. I never did get to hear him on Air America radio, since the radio stations in the Lehigh Valley are dominated by right wingnut talk shows. Some facts you may not know about Al Franken:

He graduated from Harvard in 1973: Political Science

He scored a perfect 800 on the SAT Math section

He won 3 Emmy Awards for his writing on Saturday Night Live

He holds strongly progressive liberal beliefs

More at this site: http://usliberals.about.com/od/senatecandidatesin2008/p/AlFranken.htm

Now that Al Franken has won and will finally take his place in the Senate, the Democrats will have a filibuster proof 60 vote-majority in the US Senate. But will that really make a difference?

Senators Kennedy and Byrd are ill, and possibly not in attendance, so that could be only 58. There are two Independents, Lieberman and Sanders, but Sanders is from Vermont and is very liberal, and has spoken out in favor of a public health care option. Lieberman leans right. So it could be only 57.

What will be the Democrats' excuse for not getting things done now? Lack of bipartisan support? Been bought off by the insurance companies and drug companies? It's time for Senators to stop being pusillanimous and pass a public universal health care option, really fight for equal rights for gays, ban assault weapons, and represent THE PEOPLE for a change, not just the campaign donors and lobbyists.

Allentown Moving Forward (well, most of us)

Recently, Allentown residents received a really cool newsletter in the mail from Mayor Pawlowski. It's called Allentown Alive: a quarterly update of what is happening in our city. At first glance, we thought it was maybe reelection campaign propaganda (not that there's anything wrong w/ that) but it's not. This newsletter is loaded with information about the Mayor's existing plans and programs, and boy, is our Mayor Pawlowski ambitious and hard-working or what? Wow!

A quick and ongoing way to get the latest scoop on Mayor Pawlowski is to follow Ed on Twitter. It's really interesting to see all that Mayor Ed is doing.

But sadly, our "newspaper" rarely reports on Mayor Pawlowski's positive efforts anymore. Lately, because they are so desperate for readers, and to pander to our area's lunatic fringe NeoCons, The Morning Call has lapdog cub reporter Jarrett Renshaw "aping" the loony Pawlowski bashing he reads at the local NeoCon blogs. The "newspaper" (which supports Pawlowski) knows its two-faced charade won't make even the slightest dent in Mayor Pawlowski's cruise to reelection in November, but shameless whores that they are, they'll gladly swap an "Anti-Pawlowski" (wink wink) perception for a few more readers. Very clever, these Morning Callers, albeit totally bankrupt in the integrity and credibility departments. We doubt cubby Jarrett Renshaw is in on the joke. Ditto the MC subscription-renewing NeoCons.

On a related subject, calling all disgruntled NeoCons!
Don't miss KvetchFest, organized by South Whitehall Township's whining expert on all things Allentown, Mike "3%" Molovinsky who "has a plan" (wink wink) to SAVE OUR SITY!

Allentown Moving Forward (well, most of us)

Recently, Allentown residents received a really cool newsletter in the mail from Mayor Pawlowski. It's called Allentown Alive: a quarterly update of what is happening in our city. At first glance, we thought it was maybe reelection campaign propaganda (not that there's anything wrong w/ that) but it's not. This newsletter is loaded with information about the Mayor's existing plans and programs, and boy, is our Mayor Pawlowski ambitious and hard-working or what? Wow!

A quick and ongoing way to get the latest scoop on Mayor Pawlowski is to follow Ed on Twitter. It's really interesting to see all that Mayor Ed is doing.

But sadly, our "newspaper" rarely reports on Mayor Pawlowski's positive efforts anymore. Lately, because they are so desperate for readers, and to pander to our area's lunatic fringe NeoCons, The Morning Call has lapdog cub reporter Jarrett Renshaw "aping" the loony Pawlowski bashing he reads at the local NeoCon blogs. The "newspaper" (which supports Pawlowski) knows its two-faced charade won't make even the slightest dent in Mayor Pawlowski's cruise to reelection in November, but shameless whores that they are, they'll gladly swap an "Anti-Pawlowski" (wink wink) perception for a few more readers. Very clever, these Morning Callers, albeit totally bankrupt in the integrity and credibility departments. We doubt cubby Jarrett Renshaw is in on the joke. Ditto the MC subscription-renewing NeoCons.

On a related subject, calling all disgruntled NeoCons!
Don't miss KvetchFest, organized by South Whitehall Township's whining expert on all things Allentown, Mike "3%" Molovinsky who "has a plan" (wink wink) to SAVE OUR SITY!