10 p.m.

• So I had some of O'Reily on tonight, and one segment was devoted to these high school bitches whining about getting suspended for reading from the "Vagina Monologues" -- something about how their snatch is a sail and their underwear is empowering. I wasn't paying that much attention and I really don't care about the story itself. What I found funny though was some feminazi defending them and saying that they were "young WOMEN." Uh, yeah, and if one of them would have dumped their newborn baby in a garbage can, you would be the same cunt to go on the Factor and say that she's just a young child and didn't know what she was doing or some other line of shit like that.

6:30 p.m.

• Yeah, we really need campaign-finance reform to stop money from mixing with politics.

During his 2006 re-election effort, Rendell awarded 265 grants totalling $516 million from a special fund he controls. That was more than four times what he distributed from the fund in 2005, state records analyzed by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review show.

 

"You saw a picture of (Rendell) practically every day carrying a big check as he went from community to community across the state," said Jerry Shuster, who teaches political communication at the University of Pittsburgh.

 

"It allowed him to make stops for official business, hand out a big check and walk away looking like Santa Claus," Shuster said.

Wait a second, is this Shuster related to the former Republican who was one of the kings of pork-barrel spending during his time and the name behind Pennsylvania’s Bud Shuster Highway? I can’t answer that question, but when trying to via Wikipedia, I came across this gem about Bud.

Shuster was frequently unopposed for re-election. His most notable challenger came in 1984 when Nancy Kulp, the actress who played Miss Jane Hathaway on The Beverly Hillbillies won the Democratic nomination. Kulp, a native of Pennsylvania, had returned to her home state upon her retirement from acting and received support from her friends in Hollywood. This prompted Shuster to recruit Kulp's Hillbillies co-star Buddy Ebsen, a Republican, to record radio spots declaring "Hey Nancy, I love you dearly but you're too liberal for me--I've got to go with Bud Shuster." Shuster would win with two-thirds of the vote and Kulp would never forgive Ebsen, complaining about it bitterly for the rest of her life.

• And just to show that I’m not a totally cynical asshole, I pray these two guys are true to their word.

Freshman Sen. Mike Folmer, R-Lebanon County, is doing the unthinkable in the Pennsylvania General Assembly.

 

He's turning down a state pension -- the Holy Grail of Legislative Perks.

 

It's what taxpayer-financed, incumbency-protection programs and partisan redistricting are all about: returning to office term after term to build up service to draw down on one of the most lucrative legislative pensions in the nation.

 

For many, it is the end game. It's like hitting the lottery at taxpayers' expense.

 

Thirty-six outgoing legislators last year had average annual pensions of $43,000, according to The Associated Press. Former Rep. Elinor Z. Taylor is collecting the most at $131,000 per year. Taylor, a former educator before winning election to the House in 1976, also got a lump sum payment of $187,000.

 

Folmer, who defeated former Senate Majority Leader David Brightbill, R-Lebanon, last year by campaigning as a reformer, says he is trying to remain true to his principles.

"If you are going to talk the talk, you better walk the walk," said Folmer, a former tire salesman.

 

Folmer is also turning down the Senate's generous health care plan. He won't accept $148 per diems or a state car. He said he will collect salary and mileage, the only benefits afforded to lawmakers in the state Constitution.

 

"I'm not trying to be a poster child for reform," Folmer said. But Folmer said turning down a pension gives him more credibility to push for reform of the system…

 

…Rep. Matt Smith, D-Mt. Lebanon, an attorney, is honoring a campaign commitment to turn down health care benefits and a pension for the next two years. Smith said he will re-evaluate it in two years if he wins re-election. He's not ruling it out down the road.

 

Folmer says part of the reason he's giving up the pension is he doesn't plan on being around that long. "I'm a term-limit guy," Folmer said. "I truly believe we should be a citizen Legislature. It should about service, sacrifice."

 

Folmer said if re-elected he would serve no more than 12 years. "I'm not looking at a long-term career in the Legislature," Folmer said.

 

It's extraordinary for a lawmaker to give up personal enrichment.

 

Folmer says the approximate $73,000 salary is sufficient. He is on his wife's health care plan.

 

Smith is also on his wife's plan.

 

There's no question that "Citizen Mike," as he was called during the campaign, is striking out in a new direction by moving toward a part-time citizens' General Assembly.

 

Pennsylvania, with 253 House and Senate members, is the largest full-time state legislature in the nation with a $335.5 million budget. It costs $1.3 million for each member. The cost to the average household for our supposedly full-time Legislature is $66 a year.

I’m against the concept of term limits, although knowing Fast Eddie will be hit with it in 2010 softens the blow a bit. However, I’m more against politicians getting perks and pensions. Being a politician is a public service and shouldn’t be a career, unless you’re looking to move to another position. (Example: Serve in the State House for a few terms, moving on to the State Senate, then ponder a governor or Congressional run.) Staying 30+ years in one position as a politician shouldn’t be rewarded with a golden parachute.

5:30 p.m.

• Time to play "Guess that headline."

Zimbabwean Opposition Leader Beaten

Are talking about (a) election results or (b) physical violence.

Drum roll please. (Text is linked to the full article.)

• Public Enemy fans, help a brotha out. So I’m listening to “Fear of a Black Planet” for the first time in years, and I just had on “Incident at 66.6 FM.” Is Alan Colmes the radio host?

*5 minutes later and one Google search later.*

Ha, it is.

He is the radio host that can be heard on Public Enemy's "Incident at 66.6 FM", which can be found on their album Fear of a Black Planet. "Chuck D of Public Enemy took an interview we did on (Howard Stern's former and now-defunct radio station) WNBC and sampled it," Colmes said in an interview. "I was upset that I hadn't been asked permission and felt I was taken out of context and made to sound smarmy. I wanted to sue but WNBC was Emmis Broadcasting and then Infinity, and they owned the material and didn't want to proceed. Chuck and I now laugh about it. He claims he made me internationally famous."