A Desperate Mind Means Desperate Measures

How was dinner, Tracey? Good, I’d hope.

During midterm elections, taxes and spending are always the central issues. You brought up some very notable points. Tom Corbett refuses to allocate more funding for public schools; Tom Wolf promises to increase spending on education. Corbett opposes taxing natural gas drillers; Wolf supports a severance tax on the industry. While we’re on the topic, I’d like to bring up both candidates’ standings on other key issues:

• Corbett is against abortion rights. Wolf is for them.
• Corbett seeks to reduce benefits for health Pennsylvanians in the Medicaid program. Wolf seeks Medicaid expansion.
• Corbett wants to keep the minimum wage at $7.25. Wolf wants it at $10.10 over a two-year period.
• Corbett supports scaling back labor unions, as well as prohibiting conditions of employment in regard to unions. Wolf opposes both.
• Corbett supports the reduction of public pensions and opposes the use of taxpayer-dollars to pay off pension debt. Wolf seeks to maintain a defined pension program and supports paying off pension debt with taxpayer-dollars.
• Corbett sees no immediate effects of climate change on human health and the environment, making no plans to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. Wolf believes that global warning has already began to impact the world, promising emission-reduction policies should he be put in office.
• Corbett opposes same-sex marriage (but allowed it to become law). Wolf supports it.
• Corbett is anti-gun control. Wolf is pro-gun control.
• Corbett opposes state control of liquor sales. Wolf supports the state liquor store.
• Corbett supports limited medical marijuana. Wolf supports a its legalization for broader medical uses.

Wow. That was a hefty list. With such liberal standings, it’s understandable why Tom Wolf is an appealing candidate to a city such as ours. Despite public fear of increased taxes, Wolf has an eleven point lead according to the polls on Real Clear Politics. In an attempt to level the playing field, Corbett targets President Obama’s falling popularity days before Obama’s visit to Philadelphia, saying “voting for Tom Wolf would be like voting to make Obama Pennsylvania’s governor.” Our current governor may have everything between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, but his self-confidence must be waning. I may have no deerstalker hat, but it doesn’t take a high-functioning sociopath to deduce this. If he actually felt confident about his ability to win this upcoming election, Corbett wouldn’t have felt the need to throw cheap shots.

–Nancy

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Souces:

The Washington Times

NBC Philadelphia

The Blame Game

Hey there Nancy. I know we both like to diligently defend digital rights, but we both also like to watch pols point fingers are each other. With the midterm election coming up in just two days, let’s talk about the governor’s race!

Our incumbent governor Tom Corbett is against Tom Wolf. Both candidates have vastly different opinions, but I’ve decided to tell you about where they stand on an issue that is very near and dear to our hearts–education.

In one of their debates earlier in October (this one took place in our very own city of brotherly love!), shots were fired from both parties regarding the issues with education. The amount of money, or rather the lack thereof, that the schools get has been a major problem throughout Corbett’s term in office. Corbett blames his predecessor, Ed Rendell, for cutting funding towards education and “public education unions” for protesting. Wolf on the other hand plans to raise the tax on natural gas drillers to five percent, which would provide millions of dollars towards education. He holds Corbett responsible for the increased class sizes and property taxes, along with the fact that kids have to pay to participate in school activities.

Corbett is blaming others for what happened with the school funding, and frankly it’s not working very well. If Rendell was in the wrong, Corbett should have fixed it when he took office. He had four years to fix the education problem, and it’s gotten worse within these four years. The schools could have been better back when Rendell was governor, but now there’s no paper in the school; teachers have to buy their own, using their own money to get school supplies and decorations for their classrooms. The class sizes are getting a bit ridiculous; some teachers don’t have enough chairs to seat all their students. He blames the unions, but they would not even be protesting if Corbett was doing a good job with school funding.

Wolf’s plan to increase tax is receiving both backlash and support. People are scared that the natural gas companies are going to pack up and move somewhere else, but the thing is, the natural gas is in our ground; it’s not going to move. All other states are taxing the natural gas drillers. Why can’t Pennsylvania do the same and earn some money to go towards the schools? Polls show strong support for Wolf, but Corbett still has a good chance on Tuesday since, between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, there’s Alabama.

I have to go eat dinner now. See you later Nancy.

–Tracey