Akkam’s Razor

Come 12/17, my life is going to get considerably more noisy.

It is on this date that the FAA will change flight plans allowing departing aircraft from Philadelphia International by flying west over residential Delaware County as opposed to flight plans that take flights north or south over the Delaware River and largely industrial areas.

The FAA is stating that this aerial land grab (remember, the county may own the majority of the land the airport sits on, but does not own the skies) is necessary to avert gridlock on the tarmac.

My, my, my… Curt must have been up to something very bad for a vast left-wing conspiracy GOP-led US Department of Justice to still be pursuing the influence-peddling case so long after he has been out of office.  The Delaware County Times leads with it in the header in print, with more coverage in both Harpers and on ABC News as well as context and perspective from TPMMuckraker. 

Philly.com has the city races with expanded coverage here.  Full un-official Delaware County results can be found here.

Enough already. 

The headline on the Delaware County Times and weaselly caption is bad enough, but it's my observation when voting that have inspired my frustration.  Philadelphia voted for change.  But by all apearances, Delco, Montco, Chester County, and Bucks County all voted for the status quo.  I'm left with no possible alternative hypothesis other than the Democrats don't care about Delaware County (or suburban Philadelphia) politics.

The Delaware County Times delivers no value as far as local political reporting, save the occasional 1-inch column.  The "Sound-Off" section sounds like a cross between internet forum and local bar circa 1:55 AM.  And you can always count on a trio of Gil Spencer's Opinion Local Columns heaping negative criticism on Democratic challengers or lauding compliments of GOP incumbents landing in your mailbox.  The Inquirer and the local TV-news networks only cover Delco for crime and scandal.  We are horribly under-served.  Perhaps we like it that way.

As election day drew nearer, my wife, as she does, collected the various print endorsements.  I'd say we received GOP mailings on a 5:1 ratio as compared to the Democrats for the County level council seats.  I saw no TV ads, no radio ads, and no door-to-door visits by any of the candidates.  No robo-calls, no visits from local leaders, nothing. I understand that there's no money for these things, and that the GOP is entrenched and backed by an all-powerful machine.

The DelcoDems are horribly positioned.  The only reason Joe Sestak was able to win his House Seat in Congress was due to his backing by the party establishment, with little discernable thanks to be given to the county leadership.  Except for the occasional rant against George Bush and the Iraq War (a brave stance, now that overwhelming majorities oppose both) you hear nothing from them.

No attempts to build an infrastructure. NO GOTV (get-out-the-vote) effort.  No effective information gatherer or disseminating device.  No go-to-person for sound-bites or commentary. Nothing.  

(And yes, I do understand that they get no national or state level [party] financial support.  That just means they need to be more creative). 

Visiting my fire house, I see Township Manager Jack Ryan handing out ballots.  No Democrats to be seen.  I go in, sign the book, and vote.  I know nothing about any of the Judicial Races (thanks liberal media and DelcoDems), and I take special note the DA Michael Green, Delaware County Township Commissioner Jack Hennessey, and the entire Southeast Delaware County School District;s up-for-election seats were run entirely unopposed. 

You mean there were no suitable candidates amongst the county's residents?  Or that we didn't look?

One party rule has been devastating both locally in the City of Philadelphia and nationally in Washington, DC.  Elected officials, when no longer threatened with re-election, become increasingly complacent, indifferent to constituent concerns, beholden to campaign contribution and single-issue ideologies, and not-infrequently corrupted, either morally, ethically, or criminally.

So why is it?  Why isn't there any serious attempt to fix things, to bring some sort of balance?  Daddy Democrat pointed out that the GOP ran (since what, 1980) county council voted unanimously 2012 times since 2003.  That's a fascinating number, isn't it.  Were they all in agreement about what was best for the county and their constituents?  I wonder.

So I'm left with a singular conclusion to all of this.  Up until recently, the Republicans had a significant advantage to the Democrats in voter-registrations. Despite this, on the National and State level, those voters consistently have delivered Democratic candidates while maintaining the status quo locally.  I suspect that the national and state Democratic Parties realize this, and do not wish to spend additional money to benefit local politics. 

To be fair, we're not exactly clamoring for change, are we?  If the citizenry won't do it themselves, perhaps they don't want it.  And that can't possibly be true, can it? Think we can do better?  Email me.

You'll have to excuse me if I think that the sudden outbreak of swastikas on Memorial Day, as well as flag burning, seems a little too much like another time where a swastika suddenly appeared . 

• Vandals Tarnish Memorial Day With Swastikas
• American flags burned at cemetery, replaced with swastika flags

Interesting that so few events were deemed to be newsworthy, huh?

This morning, I saw two fire-engines up the street, which I assumed was the Memorial Day observance for the township.  The DelcoTimes stated this…

Briarcliffe American Legion Post 761 will hold its Memorial Day services at 11 a.m. Monday on the corner of Ashland and Bartram avenues in Darby Township. Guests will include township commissioner Larry Patterson, township manager Jack Ryan, police chief Robert Thompson, magistrates Leonard McDevitt and Steven Sandone. Keynote speaker will be Thomas Judge and post Commander Richard Ellis will serve as emcee. Food and refreshments will follow at the post and the public is invited.

Via ThinkProgress:

At one point, DeLay claimed that places like Bahrain and Qatar wouldn’t accept U.S. troops who had redeployed out of Iraq. Sestak put his hand on DeLay’s arm and informed him that the U.S. military already has bases in those countries.

Watch the video:

The Inky has an article with John Gallagher, a Center City lawyer and Russian trade expert.  Gallagher has an interesting interpretation of what a Representatives obligations are to his constituents:

"I was very lucky to have my representative also have an interest in Russia," Gallagher, a resident of Weldon's district, said in his spacious office at 18th and Market Streets in Center City.

Gallagher said Weldon, in trying to help him in Moldova, was simply providing good constituent service. "It's my congressman's job," Gallagher said. "He represents me, and a foreign country wronged me."

Agents who searched his law office were investigating possible violations of a federal bribery law, Gallagher said. "Of course I didn't pay Curt Weldon," he said.

Gallagher is the first "subject" to speak about the pre-election raid.  The distinction between "subject" and "target" is immense - needless to say, someone else is the "target".  Subjects typically provide evidence and corroborate - targets are typically the focus and subject to prosecution.

Via SuburbanGuerilla:

Hmm?!?

On Monday, when the FBI raided the homes and offices of Rep. Curt Weldon's daughter and his close friend and political ally Charles Sexton, most media outlets cited an ongoing investigation into "whether the congressman improperly helped the pair win lobbying and consulting contracts." Rep. Weldon answered with the Foley defense: "unethical liberals exposed me right before the elections." Apparently, GOP corruption is minor compared to the FBI's supposedly short blue leash.

But Wayne Curtis Weldon's shady dealings are far darker than securing his daughter's future in the post-Soviet Union free-market-free-for-all. Besides personally vouching for businessses suspected of money laundering and Serbian associates of Slobodan Milosevic, Rep. Weldon sold property in DC to the manager of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation USA, the Washington-based government relations arm of KPC.

More here…

Stats from the Pennsylvania website for vote returns… (all returns from the Election Returns site at state.pa.us)

Governor, PA: Rendell wins over Swann (58/42) (Actually it was 60.3/39.7)

Senator, PA: Casey beats Santorum (55/45) (58.7/41.3)

House of Representatives, PA-07: Sestak beats Weldon (60/40)  (56.4/43.6)

Not too bad, huh?!?

Here's voters guides from Ask.com for Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware.  SmartVoter has some wizard-based guides as well.

Here is a list of links from the Resource Shelf.  beSpacific also has some resources to watch after the polls close.  PhillyFuture has more of the same from a local perspective.

If you are going to participate in VideotheVote.org or the Polling Place Photo Project, it'd be a good idea to check what the state laws are regarding photo-place photography (via BoingBoing).

And so it begins…

You've seen the earlier voter suppression efforts here, and I've also covered a little 2004 incident regarding a caging incident.

Perrspectives has a pretty good roundup of the GOP's "72-Hour Operation", alternatively called the 25% strategy:

Every year, like clockwork, strange occurences occur…

This is Democracy?  Fight back!  Vote.