99 days, that’s all

If 40 liberals should happen to fall

We can tear down their socialist wall

Sestak says one thing and does the exact opposite.  NOT GOOD FOR PENNSYLVANIANS.

1. New Jersey faces an $11 billion budget gap
2. Eight straight years of 115 democrat tax hikes, resulting in eight straight years of falling revenues
3. A state worker who contributes $148,000 into his pension will receive $3,900,000 when he retires and lives to his life expectancy.  Barney Frank, Chris Dodd and Chuck Schumer have nothing on this scheme.
4. New Jersey spends $22,000 per student, and only 25% of those students graduate
5. New Jersey has eight of the ten counties with the highest property taxes in the nation

All he asks is that, like everyone in the private sector, teachers contribute 1.5% of their salary to their pensions, as opposed to their current contribution rate of zero.  Predictably, the blessed union leaders are screeching from on high.

Which brings me to Pennsylvania.  We face a multi-billion dollar shortfall, thanks to eight years of raiding pension funds in favor of unprecedented cronyism.  Our unfunded pension obligations are a ticking time bomb whose blast radius has increased under Governor Rendell.  School districts are supposed to fund teacher pensions and then get reimbursed by the state.  However, state pension funding has suffered the same fate of other programs under Fast Eddie’s street vendor shell game governing style.  Prior to 2008, when the market was in good shape, Fast Eddie cut the percentage of payroll the state paid into the pension, from 7.14% to 4.7%.  Like Washington, the Edsel viewed the public pension has his own piggy bank to dole out favors to his cronies in Philadelphia and across the state.  This philosophy - “Times are good, so let’s get drunk on spending” - has led us to the point where the pension is underfunded by $10 billion. 

This is not to excuse the teachers from paying into the fund.  But rather, it takes two to tango.  In the current budget, our fearless leader has graciously increased the contribution percentage to 5.4%.  It would have been higher, the logic goes, but he needed to enact property tax relief. 

Oh. 

Well, I’m sure every citizen is living under a rainbow, now that they each received less than $200.00 per year in relief.  I don’t know about you, but I haven’t heard spin like this since Subway began calling their workers “Sandwich Artists”.

Mr. Corbett, who God willing will soon occupy the Governor’s Mansion, will have to make dramatic spending cuts to bring fiscal stability back to the Commonwealth.  I only hope he’s looking to New Jersey, lest we end up like California.

The photo below captures a disturbing trend that is beginning to affect US wildlife.

Where's the Government?

Scott Brown reminded those in Washington’s bubble, in no uncertain terms, what we in the Heartland have been saying all along:  Knock it off.

THANK YOU.  To all of the men and women who have proudly served our country, thank you.  Thank you for putting your life on the line in distant lands, away from your spouse, your children, your family and other loved ones.  Thank you for meeting unbelievable challenges and harrowing circumstances with courage, honor and duty.  Thank you for bearing the scars of war so that we are free to go about our lives in the greatest country God ever bestowed on man.

It is all too easy for the rest of us to get wrapped up in our daily struggles, some of which are more difficult than others, but none that approach what you have endured.  Indeed, we have the luxury of complaining, of speaking out loud about our doubts and fears and exercising our unalienable rights, because of you.

So on this Veterans Day, thank you for protecting and defending our freedom, and may God Bless You.

 Healthcare Myths

The individual.  That’s what we conservatives have been doing for generations.  We don’t care about groups.  Groups didn’t build this country.  Individuals did.  Nor did groups save this country and pick it back up after two world wars, a great depression and several recessions.  We don’t assume that everyone in a particular group thinks the same way, for to do so puts rights of the group over those of each individual.  That’s what you’ll find here at oharagop.com:  An unbridled celebration of the individual, his undaunted optimism and his embracement of personal responsibility that comes with libery in the greatest country God bestowed upon man.

Our Principles
Our Founding Fathers got it right when they risked everything for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Our rights come from God, not from the government
There is no right the government can give you that it hasn’t first taken away.

Personal and economic freedom
Each of us has the right to make our own choices, which includes what to do with our hard-earned money.  It is for us to decide how much we pay to the government.

Individual accountability and responsibility
Our God-given rights go hand-in-hand with responsibility.  Each of us is responsible for our own actions and our property.

Respect for and preservation of property rights
Private property rights are fundamental to our freedom.  We choose what we do with our property.

Private citizens, businesses and non-profits are better at solving problems than government
A limited government exists first and foremost to protect its citizens, so that we are free to foster an environment of free enterprise and common sense.  It is in this environment that each of us is at our best when tackling problems in our community.