Help our libraries!

This past Wednesday, I was The Author at the Susquehanna County Library Association's annual Author Luncheon. What an honor to speak in front of 60 attendees! The event is a fundraiser for the Library, and Susan Stone, Head Librarian, told me that library fundraising is becoming more commonplace than ever before. Even within the luncheon there was fundraising - a sale of 50/50 tickets, and silent auction for some lovely prints, flowering bulbs, jewelry, and a favorite among the attendees, a 'books and bubbly' basket. I am pleased to think that my presentation may have helped the library raise a few dollars.

What a shame it has come to that. Between deep state funding cuts (thank you, Tom Corbett), consumer demand and need for costly technology, and increased operating expenses for maintenance and heat, our public libraries have trouble balancing their budgets. And yet on a fundamental level, our very existence as a free nation depends on free exchange of ideas. Those ideas are cataloged and stored in our public libraries, and are accessible without charge to anyone who asks. It seems our Public Libraries joins our Public Schools as institutions present in virtually every community in America, providing free access to information vital to our continuity as a prosperous nation and doing so with ever-dwindling funds.

On a recent History Channel show, I learned that Ben Franklin 'invented' and established the world's first free Public Library. One commentator expressed a belief that the free Public Library was actually Franklin's greatest contribution to mankind. Long may our libraries remain free and public.

Better targets of the governor's attention

Fact: Governor Tom Corbett has filed a lawsuit on behalf of the residents of Pennsylvania against the NCAA regarding its sanctions against Penn State University.

Disclaimer: I'm not fluent in legal-speak and I have no interest in personally investigating what the NCAA is or is not legally able to do.

Fact: The suit stems from the Jerry Sandusky case, in which football and money were deemed more important than children.

Disclaimer: I like a good game as much as the next person, but I value children a whole lot more than sports. I think sport performance and the accompanying money, fame, and clout often become more important than the moral behavior of those involved, and this is a sickening example. Children should be protected from adult stupidity on all levels.

If he were truly interested in what's best for the WHOLE commonwealth of Pennsylvania, ALL its residents, not just sports lovers or Penn State fans, these (underfunded, pitifully broken) systems would have been better targets of the governor's attention.

*Pennsylvania's roads are in constant disrepair. Our bridges are even worse, aging and crumbling from the deadly combination of time, increased truck traffic (can you say drilling?), and repeated storm damage. A bridge just a mile from my house has been out of service for 7 years, tied up in bureaucratic wrangling and lack of funds. Bad for residents of Pennsylvania.

*Pennsylvania's schools are underfunded, causing massive teacher layoffs, higher student/teacher ratios, and cutting essential programs. Bad for the residents of Pennsylvania, present and future. Didn't I say children should be protected from adult stupidity on all levels? Shouldn't that include our own government?

*Pennsylvania's state pension system is underfunded. Reports continue to show the cost of public worker retirement benefits is higher than anticipated, and baby boomers are just getting started drawing down funds. Bad for the residents of Pennsylvania, present and future. Ditto the questions raised above.

*Public services to support children and families in need continue to be cut. The cynic in me says it's because children don't vote, and the working poor are too busy trying to survive to be politically savvy. It goes without saying that the same type of program that supports children like Jerry Sandusky's victims has received less funding than in previous years. There's no logic to explain that. Again, the same questions apply.

If Gov. Corbett applied the same logic to these injustices that he applied in filing the NCAA lawsuit, he'd have to sue his own administration. Guess that won't be happening. We as the residents of Pennsylvania have to make him accountable using the only power we have.

November 2014 can't come soon enough for me.

Politics, budget cuts, and the same old same old

Disclaimer: When it comes to politics at a state or national level, I'm a cynic. In my view, few people run for major office because of some altruistic desire to improve the conditions in which we all live; they do it for power and to massage their inflated self-importance.

That said, I think most state and national politicians cater to two groups of people and projects, the ones they're most familiar with and the ones whose advocates holler loudest. The first group is often large business interests, as seen by Pennsylvania's Governor Tom Corbett and the way he limply handed the state over to the natural gas drilling companies without taxing their profits. He acquiesced a bit by allowing local municipalities to tax if they so choose, but that doesn't help the overall state coffers.

Now he's got to balance a budget, so he's doing what the big guys do. He proposes 20% cuts in funding to groups who don't holler loud, who don't massage his ego, and who don't vote. Community mental health and mental disability services, drug and alcohol outpatient treatment, homeless assistance, and child welfare grants are the victims of his choice, in addition to everyone's favorite target, public education.

What vulnerable populations learn by your proposal, Governor Corbett, is that their safety and their health and well-being are less important than the hand-shake deals you make with big business. As Ann Landers said,

Keep in mind that the true measure of an individual is how he treats a person who can do him absolutely no good.

Better be careful, Governor. You're character is showing.

Flat Corbett

Last weekend, the Scranton Times-Tribune's Chris Kelly had another great satirical column on our illustrious Governor Tom Corbett. Great stuff, but when I saw this creation, Flat Corbett, I knew I had to share.

The idea stems from that Elementary School project known as Flat Stanley. A paper cut out of "Stanley" is mailed to various parts of the world and is photographed - beside the Eiffel Tower, on the Great Wall of China, you get the idea. Kids learn about world places without ever going there. The idea has grown, and now people photograph themselves with a Flat Stanley when they travel.

Enter Flat Corbett. Folks all around NEPA who dislike some of our governor's lame policies can print out an image of His Flatness. They can then send in photos showing places and people he's affected without ever traveling around to see the damage he's done.

One policy that rubs me raw is his agreement to not tax Marcellus Shale drilling companies. These companies want what we have. Common sense business says 'we're in the driver's seat- hold out for a good deal.' Did Corbett do that? No, he threw open the doors to the state and said "Go forth and drill." Now the road in front of my house has 30 or more of these water trucks twice a day, every day.

It's more like the Jersey Turnpike than rural Pennsylvania. Our roads weren't designed for those kind of loads and now literally the edges of the road are sagging. Come on, Corbett. If these companies drill and dig and tear down forests to lay pipeline,

they ought to pay for the damage they're causing. Since they're making a fortune off our lands' resources, why shouldn't they pay into our financially strapped school systems?

So I printed out my Flat Corbett. It won't be hard to find places to use him.