Eastern Sports & Outdoors Show. In the aftermath of the Newtown, Connecticut shooting, organizers of the annual event misfired bigtime. They announced a ban on so-called assault weapons like the AR-15, outraging gun rights enthusiasts and scattering their sponsors. A boycott grew, and now the event been effectively cancelled – a $44M hit to the regional economy.
Vegetables. A lot of people, us included, had a chuckle at the news that imprisoned ex-Senator Vince Fumo’s fiancée had begun a campaign in favor of fresh fruit and veggies for prisoners. But that amusement turned to guilt last night when news broke that Fumo has been diagnosed with life-threatening artery blockages. He’ll be having surgery soon.
Pennsylvania. For the second time in four months, the unemployment rate in the Commonwealth (7.9 percent) is higher than the national average (7.8 percent). Both are under 8 percent, but that’s the silver lining. Pa. spent all of the recession better than the country as a whole; it had been 6 years since the last time Pa. fell below the national average
Joe Biden. Literally. In a recent speech about gun violence to the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the VP said he heard the gunshots at the 2006 Nickel Mines shooting. He said he was golfing near the Lancaster County school. Just one problem: there’s no indication that that’s true. The nearest golf course is 6 miles away, and employees there say they didn’t see the then-Senator that day.
Dept of Corrections. Local lawmakers will always oppose closings of government facilities in or near their districts, including the two prisons now set to be shut down in western Pa. But a bobbled rollout (read: leak) added confusion and more anger than usual to the mix. Announcing bad news is like removing a band-aid. It has to happen definitively and all at once.
Tweet of the week: Citizens Alliance of Pa. If you’re watching the GOP side of the 2014 Guv race, this is an issue you should follow.
No Governor Corbett, Pennsylvania Does NOT Need Higher Gasoline Taxes empowerpa.org/corbett-gas-ta… #taxes
— EmpowerPA (@EmpowerPA) January 25, 2013
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7 Responses
David —
The majority of the public has no idea what an “assault weapon,” a semi-automatic, etc. even is…so saying they are behind gun control means they are behind making decisions based on emotion rather than reasoned thought or careful analysis. That seems like a great way to make decisions.
Reasonable people can come to differing viewpoints on things – but reasonable people also take the time to find out the facts before jumping to conclusions. That hasn’t happened in this debate.
LycoGirl-
The majority of the public is behind gun control and eliminating assault weapons. Unfortunately, they are not activist about their opinion, so the gut-toting minority make a bigger showing about the issue at the polls. Also, the NRA (which if really a lobby for the gun manufacturers to increase profits) has done an effective job bribing/funding lawmakers.
David, I think the idiocity and overreaction by the general public should also be a “down.” Yes, they’re being led by those you mention, but if we were a citizenry that was able to think critically, and for ourselves, the gun manufacturers’ lobby wouldn’t yield such power.
I wonder how much of the increase in unemployment comes from Montgomery County where Bruce Castor has participated in mass firings; for example all of the MH/MR case workers.
The news continues to get worse for Corbett and the GOP which controls, and has controlled, the government for more than two years.
Why is this a “down”?
It should be an “UP” that someone in the gun arena showed some common sense and basic decency in banning this assault weapons from an event.
It should be a “DOWN” for the sponsors and gun lobby for being so petty and unyielding in their promotion of high end weaponry that has no place outside of the military.
That $44mil is SUCH bs.. It’s a shame no one is calling out how much is actual outside money and how much would be spent here anyway on other things. By contrast, it’s money that would go to vendors who would take it OUT of the local economy