Who's calling who a RINO?

I have to ask all of you Hackett supporters what you think of his getting Specter to endorse him.
I specifically remember during the primary all of you screaming at the top of your lungs that Arlen Specter was a RINO and Dan Meuser's association with him was reason enough not to support Meuser.
You all called Specter every name in the book. Saying Chris Hackett was a "real" Republican.
So...........anyone???........anyone??
What's up with this?
How does it make you feel now that you all look like idiots because your man totally back doored all of you and aligned himself with Arlen??

Chris Hackett's Chickens Have Come Home to Roost in the 10TH Congressional District

I really hate to quote His Most Unholiness Rev. Jerkymiah Wright but it is fitting.

Mr. Hackett won the primary through a series of slanderous, misleading, and patently false attack ads against Dan Meuser, Pride Mobility, and Pride's employees. Now he is crying his eyes out because Chris Carney is doing the same exact thing to him. Sucks doesn't it, Chris?

Dan Meuser was far and away the stronger, more honorable candidate in the 10TH. I don't say that because he is my friend. I say it because I mean it. Dan never resorted to the slimy tactics of the Hackett campaign and ultimately it cost him his chance to run against Carney. Dan was the only candidate that had a shot of unseating Carney. He had the grassroots support that would've been necessary. Hackett can't even get campaign contributions from the prominent local families. That should tell you all something about him!

Carney is destroying him in literally every poll. I know the poll that really matters will be held on 11-04 but all the local polls have Carney winning huge. I doubt that they are all wrong.

The end result of Mr. Hackett's campaign? Carney will retain the seat and will probably hold it for a very long time. He will not be anywhere near as vulnerable the next time he is up for election. Congratulations Mr. Hackett on your achievement.

The unfortunate realities of politics

I spent a portion of my afternoon with Dan Meuser. I have considered Dan a friend for nigh on twenty years. That had literally no bearing on my support for him in the 10TH primary. Had his principles and morals been diametrically opposed to my own, I would've buried him in my blog. The fact is, I have always respected Dan and after today, I respect him even more. He is a man of unquestionable honor that chose the high road in a nasty campaign and was punished for it. I directly asked him why he didn't use the dirt that those of us in the know, know about Hackett. His response; " You know I'm not that kind of guy". By God, that is what I want in my Congressman. The 10TH had the opportunity to have an honorable man represent them and we blew it!!!! Many of you voters in the 10Th listened to an unmitigated load of bullshit from Hackett's hatchet men and voted for the wrong man. If any of you think I write this piece out of bitterness, you are wrong. Dan would've been the kind of leader we need in the 10TH. He would not have been some left coast liberal's lapdog like Carney. Hackett changes his opinions depending on who he is speaking to. Sadly, he is the only Republican running. Granted, he won the primary. The how he won it is what sticks in my craw. Chris, you did an incredible amount of damage to my party with your campaign. Yes, I said my party. I don't believe you are a true Republican. I know you are not a true conservative. I've known you for quite a while. I have written that the party needs to mend the fences and get behind you in the general election. I think I may have been wrong.

The Meuser family has made a huge investment in our area. They offer real living wage jobs and opportunity to make a very comfortable income. They do not play favorites based on familial connections. They promote based on merit. They are an honorable family that has done much for the valley. They did not deserve to be called criminals. They did not deserve to be called liars or murderers. For the lies that Hackett's hatchets told, we should shun them. We should not do business with them. We should treat them like the scoundrels they are. They are less than scum. They are smegma. I call on my fellow business people to show our distaste for his campaign's behavior. Rant over.

To Kar; I was wrong and am sorry.
To Gort; Thank you for the friendship and intelligent discourse.
To Rightwinger; It's been 41.5 years that we know each other, hasn't it? Let's play golf.
To my loyal readers; Sorry I didn't coin any new nouns or verbs. This one meant a lot to me.
To Dan Meuser; You, Rightwinger, Kar, and Gort42 should play golf. I hope you invite me.

A lot to write about today

It just keeps getting better and better in Luzerne County if you happen to like to write about corruption. Judge Conahan's brother-in-law is the latest beneficiary of our tax dollars. Over $800,000. in the last 4 years. Two hundred thou per year!!!! Holy marthafocker, I am doing something wrong in my life. I need to get myself a relative/buddy in power at the court house.

Scrapheap points out that Urban recommended somebody to bid on supplying the prison with produce. Unlike Scrap, Urban's boy did a whopping $5,000. with the prison. For those who don't remember, Scrap's boy did $700 thou and change. yep Greg, Urban's on the same level as you, not. By the way Greg, how much of the $700,000 did you get?????????????

Our wonderful congressman from the 10TH is showing that he really represents his constituents. He is one of those strange beings known as a super delegate that will actually pick the next democrat to run in the general election. His district voted overwhelmingly for Billary Hatestherod,man Clinton. Yet Carney won't say who he is going to back. I think the only reason for this is that he didn't get his orders from Pelosi yet.

Congratulations to Hackett

I am stunned that he actually won. I truly believe the better man for the job lost. Maybe I am wrong but I thought people were tired of negative campaigns. I guess not. Regardless of who you were for in this primary, we now need to get behind Hackett for the general election. We need this seat back. Congratulations Chris! Please turn your dogs lose on Carney now, it worked against Meuser and I really do want you to beat Carney.

I am asking all who read this to vote!!!

On election eve, I am asking everybody to get out and vote. Regardless of your political affiliation, please take the time to do one of the most important things you can do to have your voice heard. VOTE!!!



I have no dog in the presidential race so please choose the least of the three evils, McCain.



In the 10Th Congressional primary please vote for Dan Meuser. I truly believe he is the best candidate we have.



In the 11Th, please vote for Lou Barletta. Even if you don't agree with all he says a turnip would be better than Kanjorski.

In The 117Th, please vote for Karen Boback.

In the 118Th, please vote for Mike Carroll. Yes I am endorsing a democrat!!!

The debate tonight on WVIA

I sincerely hope everybody watches this. Regardless of what side you're on, you should know where your candidate stands.

With that said, here are some questions I'd like to see asked.

To Hackett:
Will you start calling your campaign the RMS Titanic now or wait until after losing the primary?

After losing the primary, will you go on record and acknowledge that Toomey and Madeira are farktards? As a follow up, will you ever speak to them again?

Do you regret going negative solely because you were so far behind in the polls?

As the intelligent man that you are, do you regret the damage you've done to your own party with your campaign's mudslinging?

To Meuser:
After winning back the seat in the 10Th, how will you ensure an open dialogue with your constituents?

As a Congressman, what changes would you push for to help take America out of the role of being the world's policemen?

What is your position on that failed entity known as the United Nations?

With our country running in deficit, will you advocate a change to Foreign Aid until America is in a fiscal position to actually give money away?

What changes would you recommend to help ensure a more level playing field in regards to helping make American manufacturers competitive on the world stage?

Will you advocate more refineries be built to ease the burden of gas, diesel, and heating oil prices?

Considering that my tax return is thicker than many novels, will you advocate a simpler, more fair tax plan?

Will you advocate adding more human intelligent assets on foreign soil to make up for the vast number that were eliminated under Clinton?

I could go on but am hoping anybody reading this posts their own questions in the comments.

The 10th Congressional District Primary

Am I the only one that finds it amusing that everything Hackett's campaign has thrown at Meuser has blown up in their faces? These are the two that I find the most amusing.

1. their lob: Pride hired illegals.
shit and the fan: Hackett not only hired an illegal to work in his home. He paid her under the table. He didn't turn her in to le migre(sp?) I mean god dang, how fookin stupid can you be?

2. their lob: Meuser gave money to democrats.
shit and the fan: Hackett not only donated 80% of his poltical money to dems he also gave Greg "pay to play" Scrapheap $5,000 and mysteriously ended up with a $700,000 county contract. The answer to the above question, this fookin stupid.

Mr. Hackett, if I may be so bold, you should tell your campaign rats to tell you what they think is the right direction and then you should do the exact opposite. Hell, you couldn't do yourself any more harm than they have.

I wonder what Hackett's response will be

THE MEUSER UPDATE
April 3, 2008
A Special Message from Dan Meuser

NE Caucus of Republican State Committee asks Congressional Candidates to Sign Positive Campaign PledgeMeuser Signs Pledge and asks Hackett to Join Him for the sake of the Party
Conservative Republican Congressional Candidate Dan Meuser signed a pledge to run a positive campaign. The pledge was written and distributed by the Northeast Caucus of the Republican State Committee of Pennsylvania. (Click here to view the Pledge)
“I want to thank Chairman Matthew Brann and all the well respected county chairs that put this pledge together,” Meuser said. “Unfortunately, my opponent in this campaign has already resorted to negative attacks, but I am hopeful the urging of local Republican Party leaders will convince him to reconsider his tactics.”
“I signed this pledge to run a positive campaign for three reasons: It’s the right thing to do and people of our area want to see it; it is in the best interest of the Republican Party; and it will give us the best chance to defeat Chris Carney and take back this seat. Thus far, my opponent has attempted to bring this primary down to the level of Clinton and Obama primary tactics. I hope he’ll join me in keeping this campaign focused on the issues that matter to the 10th District.”
The pledge would ban negative advertising from both the principle campaign group of each candidate as well as third party groups who support the candidates. We also pledge to defend ourselves if the other candidate launches negative attacks.
Campaign Manager Eric Wallace said that the campaign would do everything possible to keep to the pledge and noted that every time Hackett has attacked Dan, it has backfired.
In recent weeks Hackett has been forced to admit that he hired illegal aliens both at his business and in his home, the latter of which he did not pay Social Security and Medicare taxes and he has refused to release payroll records or the last name of the illegal so an outside source can verify his account. (Hackett Had Illegals Working IN His Home; Times Leader, March 27)
Hackett also was caught “exaggerating” his role of recruiting a company to the area when the CFO of the company, 3CI, said that not only had Hackett not had anything to do with their decision to relocate here but that he terminated his company because he was dissatisfied with their service. Hackett has spoke about recruiting this company for months on the campaign trail. (The Daily Item, 3/21/08)
Hackett has attacked Dan Meuser’s record at Pride Mobility but it came to light in the last few days that Chris Hackett is currently being sued in federal court for questionable business practices. (US District Court of New Jersey, Civil Docket #1-06-cv-03951-RBK-JS)
Hackett has given 80% of his political contributions to Democrats, of which thousands of dollars went to Luzerne County Democrats and resulted in an over $700,000 pay to play, no bid contract. (Times Leader, 1/12/06) “Chris Hackett should be very careful before engaging in a negative campaign,” Campaign Manager Eric Wallace said. “Chris Hackett has a record of hypocrisy including hiring illegal aliens in his home, making up his record on job recruitment, donating to Democrats and receiving county contracts as well as currently being sued in federal court for questionable business practices. As Dan has stated time and time again, he wants to run a positive campaign but forced to he will vigorously defend himself. Given these examples of Hackett’s hypocrisies and even more additional troubling material, we will have plenty of issues to do so with.”
“As the final three weeks of the campaign unfold we will present our plans for growing the economy, protecting Social Security and bringing much needed infrastructure/transportation improvements to Northeast and Central Pennsylvania because that is what really is at stake on April 22nd” Meuser said.
“It will be very harmful to the Republican Party’s ability to gain this seat if Hackett continues his attacks and forces us to respond with this long list of hypocrisy,” Wallace stated. “By signing this pledge as Dan has, it will be a clear sign that we can get back to the issues and we urge Chris Hackett to listen to our party’s leaders and sign and abide by this pledge.”


Paid for by Meuser For Congress

Holy glass houses and stones Batman!!!!

The story of the year has got to be Chris Hackett employing an illegal alien and not reporting her when he found out her status. His hatchet men have been attacking Meuser relentlessly over the same issue. The difference here is that Chris hired this woman himself. She worked in his home. He paid her by check but didn't withhold any taxes. Tell me Chris, did you 10-99 her for last years wages??? I bet not. Taking the story to the next logical step, he tells the paper that his temp agency occasionally hears from the authorities regarding people he employed with fraudulent social security numbers. I have just two questions about that. 1. How many times is occasionally? and 2. If, as you claim, Meuser's company should've caught fraudulent social security numbers before hiring anybody, how come your company can't?

I could be wrong but.......

Unless I am badly confused, Dan Meuser wasn't the president of Pride 12 years ago. As a matter of fact, I think he was in sales for the company building up their sales in California back then. You would think the geniuses running Carney and Hackett's campaign would have done their homework.

Mud, mud, and more mud

I've been travelling and just got back to good old NEPA. Fortunately, it seems the only thing I've missed is the all out assault on Meuser. The current attack scheme is centered around an event that happened in 1996. (I know the paper says 1997 but that was when it was settled not when the infraction occurred). I've already written about it and won't bother to do so again. What I do want to write about is the piece in the Times Liberal today about the "illegals". I wonder who has the juice in this race to get that in the paper. Sorry, Mr. Hackett, but I doubt you do. This was definitely the workings of Pelosi's Pet. My question to you Sir (pronounced cur), is this the best mud you can come up with? I would think a former intelligence officer would be able to come up with something a little juicier. I mean after all, according to your own party you gave false intelligence to the President of these United States, Congress, and the Senate. Can't you make up something that titillates the mouth breathers even more? Can't you do a little better Lt. Commander? I hope you do read this as I would love to read Pelosi's, I mean your response.

Kevin the Pinko Lynn

If you haven't heard his show yet this week, allow me to sum it up. He has been harping on universal health care. He stated that because our life expectancy is lower than other countries that it must be due to not having socialized medicine. He bases this belief largely on Michael "America Sucks" Moore's movie Sicko. First, Mr. Pinko should remember that Moore is incapable of telling even the simplest truth. Secondly, he may want to take into account a few things; there is a segment of our population that tends to kill each other at very young ages. There is a segment of our population that kills themselves with drugs, poor diets, alcohol, etc, etc. Perhaps our life expectancy numbers are a little skewed.

He also has been portraying Dan Meuser and Pride Mobility as being the benefactors of corporate welfare because the majority of their products are paid for by Medicare. Never mind that the disabled and elderly deserve to be able to get around. The issue I take is that the pinko is all for socialized medicine except when it comes to Pride's products. Why? Because Meuser is a republican? Is it hatred for disabled and elderly people? Kevin, you can't have it both ways. Everybody that works pays into medicare, is it so wrong to ask for some benefit from that money? Is it so wrong that a local company makes products to help people and gasp, gasp, a profit doing so??

The recession and my fears

I've been very busy an unable to post as often as I'd like.
Does anybody out there doubt that we are already in a recession? It has been my experience that if you want to know the health of the economy you need to talk to only two groups of people. Builders and car dealers. When their businesses are off or in trouble, it is an excellent indication of where the economy is going. For some time now, both of those industries have been way off. The reason I use this a barometer is that people tend to buy vehicles and build houses when they have money and feel secure. I know their are foolish folks living above their means doing this but I am hoping they aren't the majority. The government just notices a problem now??? Typical.

The rescue package that every politician in DC is so proud of is a crock of shit!! People will use the money to pay bills. This will not inject any hard money into the economy. The major accomplishment of this "stimulus" package will be to just add more debt to the budget.

My real fear comes from a hard core liberal becoming president and repealing the tax cuts. Granted, I have saved some serious dough from them. I have also spent a great deal of the money on home improvements and other projects that I was putting off. This is the type of spending that stimulates the economy. My hiring contractors and subsequently them paying their employees who then buy things.......... get the picture? If people like me stop spending the economy stops.

Which of the candidates in the 10th and the 11th congressional districts will do what's best ofr us and the country? That is the $64,000 question. I can guarantee you that Carney and Kanjorski will do what is absolutely the worst job possible.
I am up in the air in the 10th but am leaning toward Meuser and obviously am all for Barletta in the 11th.

Meet and Greets

Last week I went to Dan Meuser's event in Kingston. While I was there primarily to hear what he and the other speakers had to say, I was also there to see how he interacted with the crowd. I was fairly impressed that he gave everybody there some quality face time and answered even the most mundane questions. It didn't matter who you were or what you do for a living, he treated everyone the same. I know I don't have the patience for that. Well done Dan. If I may make a suggestion, you may want to post on your website the events you have coming up. The only way I knew about this past one was from the invitation in the mail.

I keep checking Hackett's website to see when he is having a similiar event. So far, the only thing on there is a petition signing party at his headquarters in Dallas on February 4th, I think. If anybody knows when he is having a meet and greet, please leave a comment here. I would like to attend one of his events as well. Just not one at his HQ.

I saw the ads

Having just watched Hackett's and Meuser's ads on youtube, I felt a comment or two was warranted.

Both ads were well done with a message I can certainly agree with. I feel Hackett is being a little dishonest claiming he created hundreds of jobs. He runs a temp agency. For those slow on the uptake, that means is a middleman between companies needing slots filled and people who desperately need a job. Who created the job????? The other thing I am tired of hearing from our Republican politicians is " I'm more conservative than the other guy". Chris, please drop the line "Conservative Republican for Congress". It's bad enough when our presidential candidates sound like 10 year olds bickering, we don't need that in the 10Th. That being said, I liked his message and agree with the basic sentiment.

Meuser's ad was an all around good first ad. I liked the message and agree with the basic sentiment. On a side note, he may want to tone down that smile a bit, I was nearly blinded.

Now we'll see if the "also running guys" can truly compete. I predict a lot of money is going to be spent narrowing the field. Then again, the two front runners appear to have war chests that would choke a crocodile. The best thing the also running guys can accomplish is to get out of the way. Money spent narrowing the field is a must but could probably be put to better use in the general election.