Lehigh Commissioners Fail Cedarbrook

At Tom Muller's kickdown event,  he announced that although not running for another term,  he would champion for the county's Cedarbrook nursing home.  That most important facility has been stonewalled by the county commissioners.  During the last few years I appealed to the commissioners at least twice that Cedarbrook is their most meaningful obligation.  Not only haven't they funded any renovation there, they have been disingenuous in not doing so. They have commissioned study after study, stalling any real commitment.  By now, the proposed modernized wing would have been half amortized.  It's not as if the commissioners are bound by conservative principle, they funded the useless, but politically correct farmland preservation.  They should at least treat our elderly as well as excessive acreage, used mostly for Jaindl turkey corn.

Although, I have been labeled as a radical Republican choir,  I supported Muller on his Cedarbrook efforts.  I supported Democrat Dan Hartzell, because he voiced support for Cedarbrook.  My support for Cedarbrook will continue, as well as my outspokenness against hypocrisy,  without regard to political party.

ADDENDUM:  An article in the Morning Call suggests that commissioner Marty Nothstein might be more sympathetic to Cedarbrook than his Republican predecessors, time will tell.

photocredit: K Mary Hess

The Trump Effect

Yesterday, a valued reader thought that my observation of women losing it over Trump was perhaps an aberration, caused by a small sampling on my behalf. Between the demonstrations and facebook, I don't know why she thinks that. Another reader suggested that the mental illness resides within me, for not fully understanding their outrage.

I do believe that we are experiencing a unique psychological phenomena, which will eventually be officially  recognized and titled.  To say that the vast majority of women I personally know are offended by Trump is an understatement.

As a political blogger I look forward to seeing how Republican incumbents play the Trump card come the midterms in 2018.  Here locally in Pennsylvania that already is a challenge for Dent and Toomey.

Trump and Mental Illness

No,  this post isn't about Trump being mentally ill, it's about him making women nuts.  If it seems as if I'm dwelling on Trump and women's reaction to him, it's because of their obsession, not mine.  I'm a student of politics, and this visceral reaction to him by women is unprecedented.

I know a woman who has a large presence on facebook.  In all the years of being facebook friends, she has always avoided politics.  Currently, she can't stop posting about Trump.  Furthermore, her comments are becoming more and more vulgar, which is also out of character for her.  I can only conclude that Trump has made millions of women mentality ill.

Recently,  I heard of a psychiatrist who is also very upset about Trump. Who will be left to treat these people with this new condition?

The Business Of Anti-Trump

With the country having been so split in the last election, the losers constitute a large market share. Furthermore,  that segment is passionate in their dislike of Trump, and has disposable income.  Witness both Starbucks and Nordstroms cashing in on that sentiment.  Expect to see more businesses copying the strategy.  While Trump may have been a brand name prior to his campaign,  Anti-Trump  now has purchase appeal.

I recently have been accused of running a choir for Trump supporters.  I was not a Trump supporter prior to the election.  Since he prevailed and now is president,  I have evolved into a Trump defender of sorts, although he doesn't make that task easy.  I am revolted by the animosity coming his way.  There is more vitriol toward Trump than I have ever witnessed in politics.  At that intensity,  there can be nothing productive about it. I do believe that Trump will become the issue in the upcoming mid-term elections.  How sad that a congressman will run on his position on a person, rather than on the issues.

Hot Nights In The South

I am making available monoprints from the fabulous South Beach Series by Jessica Lenard(1950-2016) works in the series are 8"x10" contact off line only

Waiting On A Morning Call Promise

I was told by the top hierarchy of the Morning Call that although they wouldn't print  either my editorial or letter about Wehr's Dam,  that they would investigate and report on my documented assertions. I'm concerned about the township commissioners having allowed The Wildlands Conservancy to cast doubts about the dam's condition with Harrisburg. They attempted to poison the water about the dam behind the public's back. The state in turn sought clarification from the township about the claims by the Wildlands. I provided both quotes and dates from those memos. Two weeks have passed, and this week  they reported on South Whitehall's plans to utilize the house owned by the former mill operator, but ignored the dam issue.  The mill itself was torn down decades ago, and the dam is the only remnant left of this important part of the township's agricultural history.

The article reports that the house will become the township park office,  and be in the important Jordan Greenway project.  It doesn't reveal that the project was formulated, and is being administrated by the Wildlands Conservancy, which still wants to see the dam demolished.  Bill White, their remaining columnist, and closest thing they have to an editorial by the paper,  had previously publicly sided with the Wildlands in calling for its destruction.

Wehr's Dam was sanctified by the voters last November by special referendum. Although sanctify is usually used in the religious sense,  understand that the voters were willing to endure a tax increase to keep their cherished dam.  It has been a destination for generations.

The dam is still standing mostly from my efforts.  To stifle my current concerns about its future from the public, reflects a continuing bias on the paper's behalf.

photocredit: K Mary Hess