The ongoing renovation project of the state Capitol’s South Park has been kind to the memory of Boies Penrose, Pennsylvania’s political boss of a century ago.
Penrose’s bronze statue is graced with new landscaping and floodlights to shine a beacon on him in the Harrisburg night.
It’s not the first time that Penrose has experienced a makeover. The statue itself erected a decade after Penrose’s death in 1921 presents a trimmer figure than the U.S. senator was in real life. READ MORE »
President Obama’s recent trip to the UK seems to have been a roaring success. And why not? No country on earth shares more with the United States: a common language; a dominant culture; a shared history; a compatible foreign policy; a similar economy; a comparable political system – and most important of all, a shared sense of “special relationship” felt by most citizens of both countries.
All of this brings up a venerable old idea that has been bouncing around for decades. Why not make the UK the 51st state – or maybe the 51st 52nd, 53rd or 54th if Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland choose that route. READ MORE »
It’s the consummate insiders game, the decennial congressional redistricting that is now underway in the nation. There are two important takeaways involved in the process. The first: don’t expect a rush of public interest in a process; it’s never happened in the past, and it won’t happen this time. The second: partisanship rules, or put another way, might makes right.
In situations where the legislature and the governor are in the same party, the results are predictable—district boundaries will be drawn to favor that party. It might be best described as similar to the Harlem Globe Trotters playing the Washington Generals—the winner is known in advance of tip-off. The only question is the size of the victory. In Pennsylvania, the state government at the moment is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Republican Party. Both chambers of the state legislature and the governorship are in Republican hands, exactly the same situation that existed in 2001, the last time congressional district boundaries in the state were redrawn. The outcome is known; the Democrats will lose. The only question is by how much. READ MORE »
Here is most recent Politically Uncorrected column jointly written by me and Dr. Michael Young, also a contributor to The Political Express. In this column, we assess Rick Santorum’s presidential bid: http://tinyurl.com/3fua87d
Fires were an occupational hazard during the early years of the oil boom in Northwest Pennsylvania.
The oil flowing out of the ground was flammable and could explode if touched by a match or even a lightning strike.
A fire at a gusher well 150 years ago in April 1861 made a posthumous hero of Henry Rouse.
Rouse had rushed to the well when news of the big oil strike spread. He was standing 20 feet of the well when an explosion occurred. He started running, fell down and the flames burned most of his body.
Rouse was rescued by two men, but only lived for five hours. He dictated his will before he died, leaving most of his estate to Warren County to aid the poor and keep the roads in good shape.
A spectacular fire in 1880 destroyed the Acme Oil Co. refinery in Titusville. The Grant well in the fabled boom town of Pithole caught fire in 1865.
The deadliest catastrophe occurred when Oil Creek caught fire in June 1892 after the industry had matured.
A month of almost non-stop rains had sent the creek to the top of its banks.
Following another night of rain on June 4, a dam broke at Spartansburg on a branch of Oil Creek. The onrush of water inundated Titusville. Hundreds of residents sought refuge on rooftops or clung to floating pieces of lumber.
But the worst was to come. A tank of benzene overturned in the floodwaters. Soon a mix of benzene and leaking oil floated on the water’s surface.
At 3 a.m. this combustible mix started a fire at the Schwartz oil refinery in Titusville. Oil tanks blew up and burning oil ran into the creek. Other refineries caught fire and the explosions caused widespread panic. Oil Creek at Titusville was ablaze and many victims were trapped in their own homes by the flames.
At light of day the horror moved downstream. Hundreds of Oil City residents, gathered on the banks of flood-swollen Oil Creek, saw a bluish haze in the atmosphere. This was benzene gas and when it lighted the creek was covered in roaring flames and clouds of black smoke.
Thousands in Oil City fled to the hills for safety.
Sixty residents of Titusville and more than 50 Oil City residents were killed as a result of this disaster. Some eight hundred were left homeless.
Contemporary pictures of the destruction at Oil City and Titusville are reminiscent of the aftermath of the Johnstown Flood just three years earlier. – Robert Swift
Terry Madonna argues in a recent blog post that Pennsylvania’s method of selecting judicial candidates needs to change. He rightly says that voters in today’s municipal election know little about the qualifications of the candidates running in the appeals court races and that the candidates themselves lack the resources to inform voters. He presents these as two strong reasons for moving to a system where judges are appointed instead of elected.
Despite there being many good reasons for changing the way judges are selected, Pennsylvania voters reject the concept of merit selection. A Franklin and Marshall College Poll conducted in May 2010 found that three out of every five adults strongly opposed moving from the current system of electing judges to an appointive system (the question we asked appears at the end of this post). Strong opposition is evident across demographic groups and crosses party lines.
Tensions ran high during Pennsylvania’s brief “Buckshot War”, but no one involved came to blows or was even injured.
The episode stemmed from disputed gubernatorial and legislative elections in 1838. The elections took place against the backdrop of economic recession spawned by the Panic of 1837 and lingering suspicions about the role of secret societies in Pennsylvania. READ MORE »
Recall fever!
That’s what Governing Magazine recently called it, describing a growing trend across the country to vote local officials out of office before their current term ends. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, some 36 states now allow recall elections of some type.
Alas, the Keystone state isn’t among them. Pennsylvania is one of only 12 states that disallow Recall of any kind. While a few legislators have shown interest in the concept, there has been little movement to give state voters this vital electoral tool. Consequently, when Pennsylvania voters elect a dud, he or she is our dud for a long time. READ MORE »
Tuesday’s municipal elections will feature nominations for two of Pennsylvania’s appeals courts–the Commonwealth and Superior Courts.
These are statewide elections in which Democratic and Republican voters can nominate their respective candidates. Now imagine a situation in which the voters had no clue who these candidates are and the candidates had no resources to tell the voters anything about themselves. Almost never have so many known so little about candidates running statewide–at least since the last statewide judicial contest. READ MORE »
Check out the most recent Politically Uncorrected™ column, jointly authored by me and Dr. Michael Young, who is also a contributor to The Political Express. In this column, we ponder the likely importance of foreign policy in the 2012 presidential election.
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G. Terry Madonna, editor
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