Free Republic

The not-really-conservative Republican brother of Obama-zombie MSNBC commentator Chris "Tingles" Matthews has been arrested and charged with perjury. James R. Matthews, 62, the lame-duck chairman of the Montgomery County (Pa.) board of commissioners, allegedly lied to a county grand jury investigating corruption in the county when he denied that Keenan Mortgage Co., which he owns, had not done business since 1995 with Certified Abstract Co., which was awarded a contract in 2010 to provide title insurance services with the county. It was learned that Keegan Mortgage had done business exclusively with Certified since early 2010, said the grand jury.

State Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi's (R-9) bid to replace incumbent Democrat Bob Casey (Pennsylvania) in the U.S. Senate is not warming the cockles of the hearts of some Tea Partyers this Christmas season.

The headlines last week were filled with outrage over the revelation that former Philadelphia School Superintendent Arlene Ackerman has filed for $573 a week in unemployment compensation, the maximum amount in Pennsylvania. Ms. Ackerman, who was contracted to receive a $348,000 salary through 2014, was bought out of it for a $905,000 lump-sum payment plus $83,000 for unused vacation and personal days.

An attempt by the teachers' union for a guerrilla victory in the West Chester Area School Board race was found to have fizzled when the dust cleared and the votes were counted. When conservative Republicans running on a platform that put concern for elderly or unemployed property taxpayers ahead of teacher-union interests won in the spring primary, union supporters launched an unconventional and expensive write-in campaign to take the board. The West Chester Area is a strong Republican area and winning on the GOP ballot is considered a shoo-in for a municipal election.

An email purported to be from linebacking legend Brandon Short is circulating around the Net and describes how football coach Joe Paterno behaved on the day after his Nov. 9 firing from Penn State in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal. Short says that he and his wife spent part of Nov. 10 with Paterno. The email says Paterno was more concerned about how his current and former players were affected than himself, and was talked out of holding a press conference. Among Short's revelations is that Paterno specifically says that Coach Mike McQueary never told him "that he...

News stories world wide blared the arrest of one-time Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky along with the twisted details of the crimes for which he has been charged, but another tale of pederasty and administrative cover-up in Happy Valley is getting the comparative quiet treatment. Like the Sandusky scandal it involves faculty with national reputations. Paul McLaughlin, 45, of Arizona says he was molested in the late 1970s and early 1980s by three men including John T. Neisworth, a professor of special education at Penn State who literally write the book on autism. McLaughlin says he was 11...

The Democrats broke a bit of a losing streak in state judicial races, yesterday, Nov. 8, when David Wecht handily beat Republican Vic Stabile to win a seat on State Superior Court, which is the 15-member body that is the intermediate appellate court for civil and criminal cases from county Common Pleas Courts. There was a lot of ticket splitting, however. Republican Ann Covey appears to have beaten Kathryn Boockvar in the race for Commonwealth Court, which is the nine-member body that is the intermediate appellate court for issues involving taxation, banking, insurance, utility regulation, eminent domain, election, labor practices,...

A bill that would prevent significant parts of ObamaCare from being enforced in Pennsylvania has been laid on the table of the State House. The bill, HB 42, was released from House Appropriations Committee on Oct. 26 fulfilling a pledge made by Appropriations Committee Chairman Bill Adolph (R-165) to Tea Party groups. The committee vote was 21-14 with all Democrats against and all Republicans in favor. The bill, introduced by Matthew Baker (R-68) on Jan. 19, says A law or rule shall not compel, through penalties and fines, directly or indirectly, any individual, employer or health care provider to participate...

In an email blast to friends and supporters, former State Rep. Sam Rohrer announced that he will be stepping down as Pennsylvania director for Americans for Prosperity and that he will outline his "next step in promoting constitutional principles and courageous leadership" later this month. Those who know him think that means he will be throwing his hat in the Republican primary ring to be the party's pick to take on incumbent Democrat Little Bobby Casey in the U.S. Senate race a year from now. Rohrer ran an insurgent challenge to party-endorsed Tom Corbett in the 2010 Republican gubernatorial primary....

The writing is on the wall, and it is anything but Greek. Greece. What a country! From being the cradle of democracy to leadership in modern security (allowing stray dogs to sleep atop airport x-ray machines - no joke), from novel solutions to reduce speeding (traffic lights are routinely ignored, resulting in a seven miles-per-hour average speed in Athens) to having a good old-fashioned rivalry (hating the Turks), there’s something for everyone in Greece. Topping it all, the legendary Greek work ethic (clock in, coffee, siesta, set up construction cones, break, coffee, siesta, lunch, siesta, ouzo, siesta, afternoon break, double...

The Pennsylvania House, yesterday, Oct. 31, voted 188-7 to pass SB 314 which bans texting while driving. Dissenting were Speaker of the House Sam Smith (R-66), Daryl Metcalfe (R-12), Tom Creighton (R-37), Gordon Denlinger (R-99), Jim Cox (R-129), Scott Perry (R-92) and Stephen Bloom (R-199). The bill allows for the use of GPS devices and entering telephone numbers into cell phones.

The Pennsylvania State Senate, yesterday, Oct. 26, passed SB 1, 27-22 sending it to the State House. The vote was mostly along party-lines in the Republican-controlled institution with Democrat Daylin Leach (D-17) leading the opposition with claims that the bill will take money from poor school districts. He failed to note, however, that the money taken will then been given to the families of the poor children. He attempted to add an amendment prohibiting private schools from discriminating due to sexual orientation. It failed. Democrat Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams, however, who represents the 8th District which consists of a large...

Pennsylvania is known as the Keystone State and for most of America's history it was the second most populous one. Yet, it has produced just one president, James Buchanan, who by all accounts was rather bad. In fact, most consider him the worst. Yes, even worse than Obama, he was that bad. Well, among those on that Las Vegas stage, Oct. 18, vying for the Republican nomination were two native-born Pennsylvanians -- Ron Paul who was born in Pittsburgh and Newt Gingrich who was born Harrisburg.

Pennsylvania's prevailing wage law passed in 1961 requires all local governments and state agencies to pay workers a rate determined by the state's Secretary of Labor for any "construction, reconstruction, demolition, alteration and/or repair work." This law has been shown to hike labor costs for school additions and such by as much as 44 percent. Seven bills, some which would radically reform how prevailing wage is handled in Pennsylvania, were voted out of the Labor and Industry Committee of the State House chaired by Rep. Ron Miller (R- 93) on Oct. 3. The most significant would be HB 1191 sponsored...

A sparse crowd of about 200 heard a panel of Democrat state legislators from Delaware County, Oct. 13, at the Upper Darby Center For Performing Arts describe how public schools in Pennsylvania are doomed unless they get back in charge. The event was sponsored by PA PASS, a public education advocacy group. The initials stand for Parent Advocates for Public Education To Achieve Student Success. On the panel were Sen. Daylin Leach (D-17), Rep. Greg Vitali (D-166), Rep. Margo L. Davidson (D-164), Rep. Maria P. Donatucci (D-185), and Rep. Ronald G. Waters (D-191) along with Michael Stoll, who is communications...

Tea Party activist Bob Guzzardi is enthused about Evan Feinberg's chances to unseat go-along-to-get-along, establishment-Republican Congressman Tim Murphy in the primary election looming for April 24. Murphy has represented the 18th District, which is near Pittsburgh, since 2003. RedState.org points out that he has voted for just about every big spending bill that has come his way, and has consistently opposed reforms to combat waste and fraud.

ConocoPhillips announced, yesterday, that it is joining Sunoco in ending oil refining in the Philadelphia region if it cannot find a buyer for its refinery in Trainer. Joining the Obama bread-lines -- or SNAP lines rather -- will be 400 workers, Also hundreds of hazardous-waste impregnated acres useless for anything but oil refining will be idled and the United States will become further dependent on Hugo Chavez for gasoline. And of course a large part of the tax base of tiny Trainer and the Chichester School District, which includes Marcus Hook which is the site of one of the Sunoco...

Dennis Gannon, the former president of the Chicago Federation of Labor who works for a hedge fund, is getting paid a $158,000 pension by the City of Chicago for a day's work in 1994. The city hired him for a sanitation job then granted him leave to do his union duties.

The first meeting of the season of the Delaware County Patriots, tonight, Sept. 22, brought about 80 persons to the Knights of Columbus Hall in Newtown Square to hear Leo Knepper of Heritage PA describe how the Pennsylvania's Republican congressmen are no where near as fiscally conservative as is commonly thought, and the inspiringly enthusiastic Jenn Stafano of American Prosperity Pa explain how it easy it is to win committee seats. Mrs. Stafano, at the end of her talk, got pledges from a dozen-plus participants to run for the unheralded but important office. Knepper singled out for special criticism Congressman...

It's a video http://travisab1.multiply.com/video/item/211 The church was the U.S. Capitol The Bible was printed by the federal government for public schools.