Letter to Senator Toomey Regarding the COVID-19 Relief Bill

Dear Senator Toomey

I appreciate that three times this year, you have voted your conscience rather than follow Republican dogma. Please do something to help the average Pennsylvanian more than your support of the Trump "detax-the-rich" tax bill did in 2017 - vote FOR the COVID-19 relief bill. The stimulus payments are very important to the unemployed and the under-employed. Any stimulus we get will go to our local food bank and other charities because we know how much the money is needed by so many.

There have been many complaints about the move to have the over-indebted college graduates' college loan debt forgiven or reduced. A $15 minimum wage would help graduates with loans and minimum jobs to pay off more of their loans. It would lift millions of families out of poverty the way that Reganomics never did.

It's your choice. Can you vote your conscience one more time?

Laurie Mann
Pittsburgh, PA

Why You Should Vote Out Bigots Like State Senator John Eichelberger (R-Blair)

One of the people currently reviving the "no gay marriage" fight is John Eichelberger, R (naturally) of Blair county. Recently, he said something particularly heinous in a hearing:



They’re not being punished. We’re allowing them to exist, and do what every American can do. We’re just not rewarding them with any special designation.



I've written the following to Eichelberger to take him to task for his bigotry:




I understand you said the following in reference to homosexuals in a hearing the other day:


They’re not being punished. We’re allowing them to exist, and do what every American can do. We’re just not rewarding them with any special designation.


Thank-you for living out that famous cliche about Pennsylvania: "It's Philadelphia in the East, Pittsburgh in the West and Alabama in the middle."

If anyone ever said "We're allowing them to exist" in reference to, say, white men or fundamentalist Christians, would you have agreed with THAT ATTITUDE too?

I thought Pennsylvanians got rid of that level of state-sanctioned bigotry when we voted out Rick Santorum.

I know people like you will never change your minds about bigotry. I can only hope to help educate your constituency that bigotry in a modern society is unacceptable.

Laurie Mann
McDonald, PA

What Allegheny County Is Doing Right

As I've already voted, I want to write a bit about what was working right this morning. My earlier post was a reaction to County Executive Don Onorato's contention that very little was going wrong. While I take that with a grain of salt what he said about the newly registered, those of us who've been registered for a while shouldn't have a problem.

Jim, Leslie and I got in line at about 10 to 7 this morning. For our precinct, we were voters 5, 6, and 7. Two other precincts vote in the same location, and there were maybe about 25 people in line at 10 to 7.

The voter rolls looked easier to read, and the scanned signature of the voter from a previous vote was included. I think that's a very good idea and should help prevent fraud. Some of the records had a special text flag - either ABSENTEE or CHECK ID. I was relieved to see this, as that, too, should help prevent fraud.

We had finished voting by about 7:04. Three more votes for Kerry/Edwards!!! The line outside the voting place had grown to about 60.

Since we were so early, we didn't have to run any kind of gauntlet because none of the candidate's poll watchers were there yet!

Oh How I Hate to Live in a Swing State...

There's only so many times you can hit "Mute" when yet another lie-filled Bush ad shows up. Of course I'm still going to vote no matter how disgusted I am by Bush and buddies.