November 22, 2005 by Matt Heckman.

My last few posts consisted of interesting debates relating to the Antietam Lake drama. I still believe that we are facing a serious problem if the County takes over the land. What it comes down to is that Antietam does not want the land developed due to the fact of already having lacked the resources for expansion in their schools. The rest of Berks County will be paying through the nose within the next couple of years to cover Antietam’s Mistake. Berks County is turning into the Pick Pocket Political Capital of Pennsylvania. 2005 will be remembered as the year corruption in all levels of government have been exposed, and the misuse of tax payer money for the very first time is called on.

Sadly the County Commissioners lack the back bone to do what is right, and we will get hit with this tax increase come 2007. It’s time for some accountability. During discussion of the last topic I mentioned about investigating Antietam School District, and the township’s Budget for the past 10 years to determine why they are in the sad shape that they are in being the highest taxed area in Berks County. If we are going to have our pockets picked again the rest of Berks County has a right to know why. I am announcing today that I will be starting an effort to probe Antietam School District, and the Townships Budget over the past 10 year to determine why they are not only the highest taxed township in the county, but that they have to shove their own mistakes on the rest of us, and the rest of this Commonwealth. I have had a few people e-mail me with accounting backgrounds interested in volunteering. I will welcome all volunteers that are interested. For those that don’t have my e-mail address it is mheckman1978@comcast.net if you are interested. I will also be putting up a web site dedicated to this project to show Berks County on our progress. I look forward to seeing what surfaces during this process.

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November 19, 2005 by Matt Heckman.

You have to admit that this latest chapter in the Antietam lake drama is not as sweet as some would think. When the County Commissioners declined to vote on it until they could review it further. I applaud Mark C. Scott and Thomas W. Gajewski Sr. for doing the right thing here. It’s going to come to the point where the County would have bought the property for more then what its worth. The Commissioners know that they have been in hot water lately not just on this issue, but with all of the voting machine problems as well. Another problem with Antietam Lake that the Commissioners overlooked is the upkeep costs that will occur over the years. When the commissioners announced a possible 2007 deficit in the county budget then they should have enough common sense to get out of this whole deal period. The last thing we need is more tax increases, especially on the property level.

Judith L. Schwank should be ashamed with herself right now. She plainly has no regard for the tax payers in the rest of Berks County. She was hoping to walk right in, and shove this offer down the throats of the other commissioners and have them vote in lockstep. This is another example is misspending tax payer dollars. Like I mentioned in my previous post that if these people want Antietam Lake so bad then why don’t they invest in it themselves? Tax Payer money needs to go to police departments, fire departments, and other vital services. It’s time we put an end to P.P.P. (Pick Pocket Politics), and put all levels of Government back into its place of being besides us, and not riding on our backs.

I close with this. Antietam Lake can be preserved. All of these people that really want the lake preserved can invest into it, or even jointly finance the project. Why burden the tax payer with higher taxes that will only slow down economic growth in the county further?

Judith L. Schwank, Al Walentis, Stephan Kosikowski, Al Boscov, Reading City Counsel, Tom McMahon, Mike O’Pake, and all the rest of you people that want to preserve the lake. Get together and invest in the property, and stop picking our back pockets. If this venture is not worth spending your own money then it is not worth spending tax payer money.

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November 15, 2005 by Matt Heckman.

I could not help but read about the latest chapter in the Antietam Lake drama. Mike O’Pake has gathered state funding to add to the County offer. What nobody is reporting is how much this will burden the taxpayer in Berks County. Berks County is already overtaxed, and once again my point about the pick people’s back pocket policy is proven. It’s always the citizens that have to dig deep into their pockets to pay for something that will never generate any type of return economically. I mentioned in my previous post about how Reading continues to live in the past.

I want to bring up another example relating to the goggle works. There are a lot of people that want these goggle works type projects, and the first thing they want to do is raise your taxes to pay for it. Al Boscov is a prime example of this. Why don’t these people put their money where their mouth is? Do you see Al Boscov digging into his pockets to pay for these projects? Do you see Mike O’Pake digging into his own pocket to pay for these projects? Do you see Tom Mcmahon digging into his own pocket to pay for these projects? Do you see Ed Rendell digging into his pockets (and we know those pockets are very deep) to pay for these projects? The answer to all of these questions is no. If these people care about saving Antietam Lake that’s fine, but do we always have to pick the pockets of law abiding citizens that work their tail off only to see their net income shrink year after year? As long as we have this type of attitude with our local government then Berks County let alone the City of Reading will never generate a positive business climate.

The bottom line is we need to grow an economy in this county, and I would love to see the City of Reading prosper, but these type of things will never get us there. For once can these people leave our back pockets alone? If the people I just mentioned truly want to save Antietam Lake then they should make in what we call an investment. The people I mentioned combined have the capital to easily invest into a project like this, but sadly when it comes to their own money they don’t step up to the plate. They would rather take the money from people like you and me.

This is called Pork Barrel Spending. Does anybody know where that term came from? It started during the civil war to prevent the slaves from turning against their masters they would feed them barrels of pork to keep them happy. Every time we hear the term Pork Barrel we as citizens should be insulted that we are considered the equivalent of slaves to our elected officials.

If these people truly believe that saving Antietam Lake is a worthy, and noble goal, then they need to step up to the plate, and lead by example before they dare pick the pockets of the tax payer again.

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November 11, 2005 by Matt Heckman.

This came from the Reading Eagle today. We got these people on the ropes, but I still can’t help but puke over their self centered egos about how it was unfair. Ed Rendell, and David Brightbill, Tom Caltigirone YOU’RE NEXT !!!!!!!!!!!!!

HARRISBURG Supreme Court Justice Russell M. Nigro, the first state-level judge ever denied another 10-year term, said Thursday that although voter anger over the size of pay raises may have been justified, it was “misdirected” at him. (Oh cry me a river. Maybe you should have a talk with Ralph Cappy for going behind closed doors with O’Pake, Brightbil, and Rendell on how to make the pay raise pass the court system. You Nigro are just as GUILTY, and you got what you deserve.)

Calling himself disappointed but not angry, Nigro noted that the amounts of the raises were set by the Legislature. He said there was nothing he could do about the pay-raise law because a legal challenge has not come before the Supreme Court. (That’s because of Ralph Cappy’s involvment, and every leagal professional knew that you guys were compromised. That is why the challenge went to the Federal Courts.)

“I think (voters) were blinded by rage. They were angered by the pay raises, and I’m not saying they weren’t justified,” Nigro said in a telephone interview Thursday. But if the election had turned on his record from 10 years as a member of the state’s highest court, he said he would have been overwhelmingly retained. (You are DAMN RIGHT we are enraged, but not just about the pay raise, but self centered scum bags like you pimping off of the hard working tax payers of this state all of these years. You crying about the voters rage proves your arragonace to the people of this Commonwealth.)

“It was misdirected and misguided,” Nigro said. “They went after me because they couldn’t go after somebody other than me.” (Maybe instead of sending more of our tax money to Harrisburg we can send diapers to Nigro, because we will have more cry babies in 2006.)

Since about a week before Tuesday’s election, members of the Legislature have been trying to agree on legislation to repeal the four-month-old pay raise law, which boosted legislative salaries by 16 to 54 percent and increased the pay of the state’s more than 1,000 judges by 11 percent to 15 percent. The House and Senate are at odds over the constitutionality of repealing the judges’ raises. (How easy it is for them to enact it, but how hard it is to repeal it. If these bastards cared about the constitutionality of anything they would never have passed the pay raise in the first place.)

With no other state-level officials up for election this year, citizen groups that opposed the pay raise targeted Nigro and fellow Justice Sandra Schultz Newman, urging voters to throw them off the bench to show their disenchantment with state government. (Boy did we take the voter paddle with holes over Nigro’s ass, and give him a spanking or what? We got plenty more of that where it came from. Though Brighbill may enjoy the spanking a little too much if you know what I mean.)

Nigro, a Democrat serving his first term on the court, attracted 47 percent of the vote 701,410 “yes” votes to 804,703 “no” votes with 99 percent of the vote counted, making him the first statewide judge to be turned out of office in the 36 years that retention elections have been held. Newman, a Republican, collected 54 percent. (Republican, or Democrat does not matter they are all scum bags that betrayed the trust of the citizens of the Commonwealth.)

Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell, who recorded automated telephone messages for Newman and offered to do the same for Nigro, echoed Nigro’s assessment that his defeat was unfair.
“If voters want to take out on politicians their anger on some things that politicians or elected officials did, it’s fair game,” the governor said at a Capitol news briefing Thursday. “But to the best of my knowledge Russell Nigro had nothing to do with the pay raise.” (Another lie out of the mouth of Rendell. I guess he was drinking a lot when he met with Ralph Cappy to ensure the pay raise would not get killed in the State Supreme Court. If Rendell gave a rats rear about this pay raise he would have veteoed it. Fast Eddie can do all he wants because he will have to run like a bat out of hell when we vote his rear end out of office in 2006.)

Lawmakers approved the raises around 2 a.m. on July 7 without debate or hearings. More galling to many Pennsylvanians, most lawmakers began collecting their extra money right away as “unvouchered expenses” even though the state constitution bars legislators from receiving raises approved during their terms. (Got to wonder what O’Pake, and Brightbill are doing with that money right now?)

Nigro said he has voted to throw out part or all of laws in 44 percent of the challenges that reached the state’s highest court. And he said he should not be judged guilty by association with the pay raise decision just because he is getting a bigger paycheck. (Again the name Ralph Cappy ring a bell?)

“If that’s the mentality, I don’t know how rationally you can answer that,” Nigro said.
Nigro, 59, said he has no plans for the future beyond January, when his term is up. Rendell will appoint a temporary successor until voters elect Nigro’s replacement in November 2007. (Here is a rational decision Nigro. Soon Fast Eddie, Brightbill, and the other scum bags in Harrisburg will get our message. YOUR SERVICES ARE NO LONGER NEEDED!!!!!!! BYE BYE NIGRO AND DON’T LET THE DOOR HIT YOU IN THE ASS ON THE WAY OUT. )

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November 10, 2005 by Matt Heckman.

I want to lay out a challenge to Stefan Kosikowski, and Jim Reitnour on some questions relating to our State, as well as what they would do to benefit the City of Reading. You will find my questions to be completely neutral, and I think both candidates will enjoy some of these since the business as usual crowd sweeps them under the rug whenever they get a chance. I will only post both candidates answers when I receive both of them. Now down to the questions.

1. Homeland Security in the state. As you know our federal government neglects to secure our borders both north, and south. Recently Al-Jazera the Arab news network known for broadcasting videos of the beheading of Americans in Iraq have been down at the Mexican border showing off how easy it is to cross it. The other problem is when we catch these illegal aliens they seldom get deported. Illegal aliens have been a burden on the tax bill for tax payers for many years, especially in our schools, and our hospitals, and a lot of people are getting fed up with it. Since the Federal Government, and the current administration fails to crack down on this as granted to them in our constitution, would either of you support an amendment to our state constitution giving us the power to take these matters into our own hands, and deport these Illegals from our state?

2. Economy and Transportation. We have been having a constant debate for years about the economy of Reading. I mentioned on a post on Jim Reitnour’s blog recently that I believe one of the problems is that Reading is an industrial climate, and sadly NAFTA has killed that aspect of our economy. I also mentioned that Reading has to stop living in the past, and make the necessary changes to adapt to modern economic times. One of them is transportation. We have been auguring for years about reconnecting the rail line to Philadelphia for example. How would both of you go about pursuing the example I just mentioned, along with other road projects to connect to our surrounding counties better, and how it will benefit our economy in Berks County?

3. Property Taxes, and the overall Tax system. This is the most important thing on voters minds right now. I have read both your ideas on how to tackle this, and I will be honest with you that they are both good, and I believe that you are both sincere about this. Stefan correct me if I’m wrong, but from what I read of your plan it is very similar to how Delaware handles their tax structure. You want to promote a progressive income tax structure on earned, and unearned income. I was also in agreement with you that one from of taxation is enough, and one of our problems in this state is we have so many hidden fees, and other little taxes which we can do away with, and have a one way channel of funding our state. My question on your plan is relating to the tax brackets you propose. How would you ensure the voters that our tax system under your plan would not inflate into a small version of the IRS, and would your plan include any deductions like mortgage interest, donations, medical expenses, etc.?

As for Jim Reitnour’s plan yours consists of raising the income tax to 4.25%, and lowering the sales tax to 4% to cover most things, but leaving the exemptions in place for food, clothing, and medicine. You also stated on the Reading Eagle Blog that you would allow the sales tax to cover “expensive clothing lines”. My question to you is how would you go about targeting those lines, and how would you ensure businesses that they could still compete boarding Delaware with no sales tax?

4. My final question to both of you is this. The state senate will be voting at the end of the month to increase the real estate transfer tax, and if passed could raise closing costs to over $4,000.00. People out in Philadelphia are scared to death of this, and radio ads are all over the place. If you had the power to vote on this measure would you vote it down?

I hope we can do more of these type of questions in the future. I look forward to hearing your answers.

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November 4, 2005 by Matt Heckman.

I received an e-mail from Jim Keller the other day accusing me of putting an entry on the Anne Carroll for Judge blog site using his name to insult Jeremy Carroll. For the readers outside of Berks County Anne Carroll is running for County Judge. Her son Jeremy is confined to a wheel chair. Not only has Jim Keller accused me of making these disgusting remarks, he has even threatened me to either admit that I did it, or he would file a law suit against me. I was not even aware of Anne Carroll’s blog until Jim Keller e-mailed me throwing his fit.

Here are the e-mails of Jim Keller’s threats against me.

Now I find it sick that Jim Keller wants to use this incident to attempt to yet again discredit me, and using the Carrolls as a tool to do it. Anybody that knows me on a personal level knows that the statements made on the Carroll blog are not within my character. The Liberal double standard toward Conservatives is not the nature of the evidence, but the seriousness of the charge. Let me be on record that I am not accusing Jim Keller of making that post but I am accusing Jim Keller of being a political hack by using this to attempt to shut this site down, and discredit me for something I did not do. Jim Keller has made every attempt to discredit me, and he has failed.

The bottom line is that Jim Keller can’t stand the fact that there is a local site out there to call him, and the local Democrats on their actions. This is why Liberals can’t win elections anymore. The base of the Democrat party consists of a bunch of fringe kooks, and this is a prime example. For Jim Keller the Committee man of the Democrat Party of West Reading acting like this shows a lack of character on his part.

Jim Keller you need to stop blaming others for your own problems. I will not take anymore of your threats either by e-mail, or on this blog. This site is here to debate issues, Liberals, and to call them on their actions when they serve a distrust to the public, or whatever else I want to talk about.

So spare me your pathetic Bull Shit, and go get a life. Remember who has the criminal record? Not me, but you. I’m sure Styrker will be more then happy to post all kind of things about what you did to him. I invite Styrker, or anybody else that has been attacked by this hack to expose him for the slime ball that he is.

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November 1, 2005 by Matt Heckman.

A new book by a top investigative journalist exposes the blatant hypocrisy of liberals who loudly espouse principles they disregard in their own personal lives.

In “Do As I Say (Not As I Do): Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy,” Hoover Fellow Peter Schweizer reveals the glaring contradictions between the public stances and real-life behavior of prominent liberals including Michael Moore, Ted Kennedy, Al Franken, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi and Ralph Nader – among others.

“Hypocrisy has proved to be a wonderful weapon for liberals in their war against conservatives,” Schweizer writes in the November issue of NewsMax Magazine.

“Yet for all the talk about conservative hypocrisy, there has been very little investigation into the prevalence of hypocrisy on the left.”

After two years of research into liberal hypocrisy, Schweizer said, “what I discovered was just stunning.”

Schweizer’s well-annotated book, published by Doubleday, has just been released and its sure to turn several well-known liberals red with anger.

Among the eye-opening revelations of “Do As I Say”:

Filmmaker Michael Moore insists that corporations are evil and claims he doesn’t invest in the stock market due to moral principle. But Moore’s IRS forms, viewed by Schweizer, show that over the past five years he has owned shares in such corporate giants as Halliburton, Merck, Pfizer, Sunoco, Tenet Healthcare, Ford, General Electric and McDonald’s. (Shades of Stefan Kosikowski right here. Where is the outrage here Stefan? You guys point to Michael Moore as the God of the Left with his movie of lies.)

Staunch union supporter Rep. Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) has received the Cesar Chavez Award from the United Farmworkers Union. But the $25 million Northern California vineyard she and her husband own is a non-union shop.

The hypocrisy doesn’t end there. Pelosi has received more money from the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees union than any other member of Congress in recent election cycles.

But the Pelosis own a large stake in an exclusive hotel in Rutherford, Calif. It has more than 250 employees. But none of them are in a union, according to Schweizer, author of “The Bushes: Portrait of a Dynasty” and a regular contributor to the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and other periodicals.

The Pelosis are also partners in a restaurant chain called Piatti, which has 900 employees. The chain is – that’s right, a non-union shop.

Ralph Nader is another liberal who claims that unions are essential to protect worker rights. But when an editor of one of his publications tried to form a union to ameliorate miserable working conditions, the editor was fired and the locks changed on the office door.

Self-described socialist Noam Chomsky has described the Pentagon as “the most vile institution on the face of the earth” and lashed out against tax havens and trusts that benefit only the rich.

But Chomsky has been paid millions of dollars by the Pentagon over the last 40 years, and he used a venerable law firm to set up his irrevocable trust to shield his assets from the IRS.

Air America radio host Al Franken says conservatives are racist because they lack diversity and oppose affirmative action. But fewer than 1 percent of the people he has hired over the past 15 years have been African-American.

Ted Kennedy has fought for the estate tax and spoken out against tax shelters. But he has repeatedly benefited from an intricate web of trusts and private foundations that have shielded most of his family’s fortune from the IRS.

One Kennedy family trust wasn’t even set up in the U.S., but in Fiji.

Another family member, environmentalist Robert Kennedy Jr., has said that it is not moral to profit from natural resources. But he receives an annual check from the family’s large holdings in the oil industry. (Yet Stefan Koskikowski, Jim Keller, and Al Walentis want to blame Bush for oil connections)

Barbra Streisand has talked about the necessity of unions to protect a “living wage.” But she prefers to do her filming and postproduction work in Canada, where she can pay less than American union wages. (Where is Jim Keller’s outrage on this one? Jim Keller claims to promote union ideals.)

Bill and Hillary Clinton have spoken in favor of the estate tax, and in 2000 Bill vetoed a bill seeking to end it. But the Clintons have set up a contract trust that allows them to substantially reduce the amount of inheritance tax their estate will pay when they die.

Hillary, for her part, has written and spoken extensively about the right of children to make major decisions regarding their own lives.

But she barred 13-year-old daughter Chelsea from getting her ears pierced and forbid the teen from watching MTV or HBO.

Billionaire Bush-basher George Soros says the wealthy should pay higher, more progressive tax rates. But he holds the bulk of his money in tax-free overseas accounts in Curacao, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands. (Considering the fact that Al Walentis plugs Moveon.org at every turn I wonder where the outrage is considering the fact that George Soros is Moveon.org’s biggest backer?)

Schweizer writes: “Liberals claim to support affirmative action but don’t practice it. They support higher taxes but set up complicated tax shelters to avoid paying them. They claim to be ardent environmentalists but abandon their cause when it impinges on their own property rights.

“The reality is that liberals like to preach in moral platitudes. They like to condemn ordinary Americans and Republicans for a whole host of things - racism, lack of concern for the poor, polluting the environment, and greed.

“But when it comes to applying those same standards to themselves, liberals are found to be shockingly guilty of hypocrisy.

“The media and the American people need to hold them accountable.” (Al Walentis, and the Reading Eagle THAT MEANS YOU !!!!!!!!!)

To get a copy of this book click here.

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