Wednesday, January 5, 2011

A New Day

The 112th Congress will be sworn in today, and today's blog is dedicated to rambling reflections on the new and the old.

Republicans will control the House while Democrats will narrowly be in charge of the Senate.  Both parties say things will be different.  Pardon me if I remain skeptical.

Cliche alert:  The people aren't broken, but the system is.  If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.

I would never advocate not voting, but if you cast your ballot in November, expecting great change, I'm afraid you'll be disappointed.  There's more than enough blame to go around.

Can we talk about seniority for a moment?  Specter, Kanjorski, and Carney are gone.  State senators Musto and Mellow opted not to see reelection.  Let's stay with Washington for the time being.  I have a feeling the Republicans will throw Marino and Barletta a bone in the form of a project or two for their districts.  It will show the new guys have clout, and it will help in their reelection bids two years from now. 

Seniority might be over-rated.  We had some people from our area with a lot of government service years under their belt.  Yet, we have 10 per cent unemployment, and it's tough to support a family on the jobs that we do have here.

We have a spiffy, under-used airport.

What ever became of the plan to expand that parking lot called Interstate 81?

How's that State Department security training facility in the Shickshinny area coming along?

We have seas of warehouses in parts of our area.  Big buildings that take up a lot of room, yet provide few jobs per square foot.

Are the casinos helping?  Marcellus Shale drilling?

Sen. Casey is BFF's with President Obama.  Has our area benefited?  Polls show Casey is vulnerable when he's up for reelection in 2012.

Vice President Biden and Secretary of State Clinton both have ties to our area.  Has it helped us?

We've been fed a lot of promises, from both parties, over the years.

There is a glimmer of hope.  There always is.  It's possible the folks in Harrisburg and Washington smelled all that voter anger and rage in November, and maybe they finally saw the light.

It's a new day, and the slate is clean.  We'll see how long the political honeymoon lasts.