Monday, May 17, 2010

Specter in Wilkes Barre today!

Please join Senator Arlen Specter
on his Pre-Election State Tour
Our Northeastern PA stop will be at the Airport Holiday Inn Express
Monday May 17th, 1:45pm
Come send Senator Specter off on the Road to Victory!
Who: Our Candidate, Senator Arlen Specter
What: Pre-Election State Tour
Where: Holiday Inn Express - Same exit as the Airport off of Rt. 81
30 Concorde Drive
Pittston, PA 18641
Please direct any questions or rsvps to jake@specter2010.com or 570-871-4591

Sestak's Sleazy Campaign Tactics Exposed

A recent Sestak TV ad has used a video clip of Senator Specter which uses a phrase taken out of context -- a phrase that sticks out and "has a different meaning in its full context" according to an investigative report by Scranton's WNEP-TV.

In the new Specter ad Gov. Ed Rendell states, "When Arlen crossed party lines to vote for the Recovery Act it was one of the most courageous votes ever. Joe Sestak's TV ad playing a fragment of what Arlen said is the worst type of politics."

The text of the new ad is below and the radio spot is attached; WNEP-TV's investigative report and the radio spot can be accessed at http://bit.ly/bHzoPo.

Specter Campaign Radio Spot:“INVESTIGATE”

YOU’VE HEARD JOE SESTAK’S ATTACK AD ON ARLEN SPECTER.

“My change in party will enable me to be re-elected.”




LISTEN TO WNEP'S INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, DAVE BOHMAN, WHO’S UNCOVERED THE ENTIRE TAPE....

BOHMAN: The phrase that sticks out has a different meaning in its full context.

AS:

[Clip of Specter]

"My change in party will enable me to be re-
elected and I've heard that again and again and on the street: 'Senator we're glad you'll be able to stay in the Senate and help the state and the nation.'"




GOVERNOR ED RENDELL’S OPINION?....

Rendell: When Arlen crossed party lines to vote for the Recovery Act it was one of the most courageous votes ever. Joe Sestak's TV ad playing a fragment of what Arlen said is the worst type of politics.

ARLEN SPECTER -- ENDORSED BY PRESIDENT OBAMA, GOVERNOR RENDELL AND NEARLY EVERY MAJOR NEWSPAPER IN THE STATE.




I’m Arlen Specter and I approved this ad.





Thursday, April 22, 2010

Bipartisan support for Lackawanna College

From The Pike County Press:

If all goes according to plan, Lackawanna College will be opening the door to a 16,000 square foot addition to its operations in the Hawley Silk Mill in October, thanks in part to $1.5 million recently procured for renovation of the building by state Senators Lisa Baker and Bob Mellow, as well as $100,000 obtained by U.S. Senator Arlen Specter for science lab equipment.

Nice to see PA Senator Baker (R), PA Senator Mellow (D) as well as US Senator Arlen Specter (D) all in agreement about an issue.

April 22: Earth Day!

This message was posted on Senator Specter's Facebook page:

This 40th Earth Day is an important milestone. The environmental movement that rose to national prominence in 1970 has resulted in cleaner air and water for all Americans and has saved millions of lives.

Today is also the 40th anniversary of the first Earth Week, which I am proud to say started in Philadelphia in 1970. Environmental regulation has come a long way since that time, when, as District Attorney of Philadelphia, I had to resort to an 1860 law to bring a public nuisance suit against a contractor who was spraying asbestos at a construction site, endangering workers and passers-by.

This year is also the 40th anniversary of the historic Clean Air Act and of the founding of the EPA. The Clean Air act is a vital tool in combating air pollution and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The air in Pennsylvania is cleaner than it was 40 years ago, but it could be cleaner still. I have long supported clean coal technology, and my decisive vote for the stimulus package has been a major boon to Pennsylvania’s wind, solar, and hydropower industries.

I look forward to continuing my work to clean the Commonwealth’s air, to protect its water resources, to maintaining its leadership in renewable energy, and to passing legislation to control greenhouse gas emissions and combat climate change.

-Senator Specter

Pike County Sample Ballots availible

You can review the sample ballots now:

  1. Start with the Pike County homepage (http://www.pikepa.org/)
  2. Click the "elections" link on the right side of the page, in the "County Departments" section.
  3. You should have all the sample ballots for Pike County listed on the screen. Select the voting district (for instance: "Porter Township") from the correct column (Democrat or Republican) and see how the ballot will look!
Please take a look at this before you go to the polls on Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

What you see is less than what you got?

The National Review Online finds what looks like a newspaper headline in Sestak's new ad to be a letter to the editor by a Sestak supporter. Jim Geraghty writes:

(Sestak's ad is) "...mostly a standard-issue biographical ad, with a bit of Top Gun–style footage of a younger Sestak on an aircraft carrier."

But the ad features a newspaper headline, "Sestak Works Hard to Create New Jobs." For an aspiring senator in this economic environment, that's about as good a headline as you can wish for, and I wondered which newspaper wrote that.

It turns out it's the headline on a letter to the editor in the Delaware County Daily Times; the letter writer shares the name of the chief attorney in the Philadelphia office of the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights.


Tuesday, April 20, 2010

FactCheck on the biggest Health Care Law whoppers

From FactCheck:
___________________________________________
Summary

We’ve seldom seen a piece of legislation so widely misrepresented, and misunderstood, as the new health care law. We stopped counting the number of articles and items we turned out on the subject after the total reached 100.

Some of that is understandable. The debate went on for more than a year, while the different House and Senate bills changed their shape constantly. The final law was the product of an awkward two-step legislative dance that first enacted the Senate’s version, then quickly amended it with a reconciliation "fix." No wonder people are confused.

And even now the misrepresentations continue. The new law is no longer a moving target, but some opponents persist in making false or exaggerated claims about it. Our inboxes are filled with messages asking about assertions that the new law:

  • Requires patients to be implanted with microchips. (No, it doesn’t.)
  • Cuts benefits for military families and retirees. (No. The TRICARE program isn’t affected.)
  • Exempts Muslims from the requirement to obtain coverage. (Not specifically. It does have a religious exemption, but that is intended for Old Order Amish.)
  • Allows insurance companies to continue denying coverage to children with preexisting conditions. (Insurance companies have agreed not to exploit a loophole that might have allowed this.)
  • Will require 16,500 armed IRS agents to enforce. (No. Criminal penalties are waived.)
  • Gives President Obama a Nazi-like "private army." (No. It provides a reserve corps of doctors and other health workers for emergencies.)
  • "Exempts" House and Senate members. (No. Their coverage may not be as good as before, in fact.)
  • Covers erectile-dysfunction drugs for sex offenders. (Just as it was before the new law, those no longer in jail can buy any insurance plan they choose.)
  • Provides federal funding for abortions. (Not directly. But neither side in the abortion debate is happy with the law.)

For details on these claims about the new law, please read our Analysis section.

___________________________________________
I am sure none of this will satisfy those believing in conspiracies of the "Fact" that Obama is out to get them. This is another example of the need to "Read Widely". Listen to some right wing radio, read a liberal newspaper, watch Jon Stewart and Fox News. Look up source material on C-SPAN.org and Thomas.gov. Do your job as a citizen and educate yourself on the issues before you repeat some rumor.

Get the facts, and then help others find the facts too. We will all be better for it!