Rep. Sam Rohrer: Budget Out of Balance and Unconstitutional

State Budget is Out of Balance and Unconstitutional

By State Rep. Sam Rohrer

On June 30, a truly unconstitutional, out-of-balance $28.04 billion state budget was passed through the Legislature. The fact that it was passed on time for the first time in eight years is nothing to celebrate, given the abdication of both fiscal responsibility and constitutional safeguards by those in office.

This budget is, ultimately, a set-up for an enormous tax increase next year. This budget grossly overstates revenue, depends on $850 million in federal Medicaid funding that has not yet been approved, and refuses to plan for the upcoming fiscal shortfalls.

Leadership in both parties in both the House and Senate has been applauding the on-time passage of a budget that doesn't increase taxes. Yet this blindness to what is really taking place is either deliberate ignorance or a complete disregard for sound policy making.

This budget expects the state's economy to grow — grow! — by 3 percent this year, when most economists are predicting at best 0 percent growth and as much as a 2 percent decline. That gap is between $750 million and $1.25 billion.

Next year, Pennsylvania loses federal stimulus funds. We will likely have to cope with the raiding of the MCare fund to the tune of $800 million. And the state’s unemployment compensation debt it owes to the federal government could top $4 billion. Everything is being pushed off until next year.

Perhaps the most egregious aspect of this budget’s passage is the manner in which it was accomplished. Approximately $66 million of Walking Around Money (WAMs) was put back in, along with a $600 million increase in the borrowing cap on the fund that pays for discretionary capital projects around the state, including nearly $300 million to be passed out by Gov. Ed Rendell. The historic use of these taxpayer-funded earmarks to buy votes in exchange for funneling money to legislators' districts is unconscionable.

Our leadership and elected officials have once again placed pragmatism over principle. That the budget should be passed on time is absolutely correct. But it's not just about getting it done on time. It's about elected officials doing the right thing — by their oath of office, by the Constitution, and by the taxpayers.

State Rep. Sam Rohrer is a Republican who has represented the 128th House District in Berks Council since 1993. He is minority chairman of the House Finance Committee. Rohrer is retiring from the Legislature at the end of the year, following an unsuccessful bid for the Republican nomination for Pennsylvania governor.

Originally posted at TONY PHYRILLAS

Poll: 60% say Rendell doing lousy job

It appears Gov. Ed Rendell has overstayed his welcome in the governor's mansion, with 6 in 10 Pennsylvania residents saying he has not done a good job as governor.

I'm wondering where the other 40 percent have been living.

40% in Pennsylvania Approve of Governor, 60% Disapprove

Originally posted at TONY PHYRILLAS

Kill the Ground Zero Mosque TV Ad

Rep. Toepel to host Open House

State Rep. Marcy Toepel, R-147th Dist., will hold an open house from 3 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 15, at her district office at 105 Memorial Road in Schwenksville.

"As the new state representative, I would enjoy the opportunity to familiarize residents with not only my office but also myself on a personal level," Toepel said in a press release.

The first-term state representative of the 147th Legislative District said the event will allow district residents the chance to meet her and her staff, and learn more about the services her office can provide to constituents.

"I am looking forward to this event, but it's important to note that my door is always open," said Toepel. "If residents have any questions or concerns regarding any state government-related issue, they can always call or visit my office."

Toepel's district office can be reached at 610-287-4181 from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Information is also available on her website at www.RepToepel.com

Originally posted at TONY PHYRILLAS

Poll: 75% of Pennsylvanians support Ariz. law

The majority of Pennsylvania residents, just like the majority of Americans, support Arizona's efforts to protect its borders from illegal aliens.

So why does Barack Obama oppose the will of the people?

57% in Pennsylvania Favor Arizona-Like Immigration Law

Originally posted at TONY PHYRILLAS

Weekly Republican Address: Obama 'stimulus' spending spree

Originally posted at TONY PHYRILLAS

Columnist: $29M funneled to pet charity run by Rep. Dwight Evans

Karen Heller of the The Philadelphia Inquirer does a nice job of exposing another Harrisburg boondoggle involving the waste of millions of taxpayer dollars.

While the state is bankrupt and deserving programs have been slashed, career politicians like Rep. Dwight Evans continue to siphon money for their pet projects.

The newspaper recently broke the story of a $1 million state donation to a poorly-attended jazz festival in Evans' Philly neighborhood. And how did so much money find its way to the streets of Philadelphia. Dwight Evans happens to be a good pal of Ed Rendell and is also chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.

From Heller's column:

Because you, dear reader, paid for the festival to the (free-form jazz) tune of $1 million through the Ogontz Avenue Revitalization Corp. (OARC), the tax-exempt, taxpayer-supported nonprofit group founded by State Rep. Dwight Evans, chairman of the all-powerful House Appropriations Committee.

This support is $1 million more than what the commonwealth gave to the July Fourth Welcome America festivities, which drew crowds Ogontz Avenue could only dream of.

Meanwhile, city parades, athletic competitions, heritage events, and even Mummers go scrambling for funding.

"I don't want to get into a debate about the numbers," Evans said about attendance, though he has no problem with numbers when it comes to securing state grants for OARC, scads in the past decade.

Consider this: $29.3 million in tax dollars went to his pet charity. That's an amount that would impress even Vince Fumo.

As Mayor Nutter said at the jazz festival, "This is the neighborhood that Dwight Evans built."

True, but with your money.

"I will say this is an economic-development event," Evans said. "It is about jobs. It does a lot for business. It does a lot for tourism."

Right, because when tourists come to this city, they head straight for Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, and West Oak Lane.

Read the full column at the newspaper's website.

Originally posted at TONY PHYRILLAS

Obama: 'Yes we did'

Yes we did raise unemployment to record levels

Yes we did bankrupt this nation

Yes we did lose the war on terror

Yes we imposed socialized medicine

Yes we filled the government with left-wing extremists

Yes we failed to protect our borders

President Obama's new slogan: 'Yes we did!' - Carol E. Lee - POLITICO.com

Originally posted at TONY PHYRILLAS

Pennsylvania Banking Department Announces Quarterly Report on Enforcement Actions

Pennsylvania Banking Department Announces Quarterly Report on Enforcement Actions

RetireSafe Protests the Recess Appointment of Dr. Donald Berwick

RetireSafe Protests the Recess Appointment of Dr. Donald Berwick as CMS Administrator

PCAP Opposes State Store Privatization

Commentary on State Store Privatization

New Black Panther Party: Will Justice Department Investigate Julie Fernandes?

New Black Panther Party: Will Justice Department Investigate Julie Fernandes? | The Foundry: Conservative Policy News.

Jennifer Lopez Out of Controversial N. Cyprus Concert

Jennifer Lopez Out of Controversial N. Cyprus Concert

Dismissing the Black Panthers and the Professionals at Justice

Dismissing the Black Panthers and the Professionals at Justice | The Foundry: Conservative Policy News.

Video: Sarah Palin - Mama Grizzlies

Originally posted at TONY PHYRILLAS

The 60 lawmakers who kept the pay raise

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ran a story this week by Tom Barnes by about the lack of real reform in Harrisburg on the fifth anniversary of the middle-of-the-night pay raise. You can read it here.

The newspaper also ran a list of the 60 state legislators who have refused to this day to return the illegal pay raise.

The list was compiled by Eric Epstein of Rock The Capital. Take a couple minutes to review the 60 names. If your state legislator is on this list and you're still contemplating re-electing him or her this November, you should have your head examined.

Click here for Rock the Capital's pay raise list

Originally posted at TONY PHYRILLAS

Newspaper: Holder's Justice Is Not Colorblind

From Investor's Business Daily:

A former top official charges the Justice Department with practicing racial politics and selective prosecution in the Black Panther voter-intimidation case. Are we a "nation of cowards," or is it just Holder's DOJ?

Holder's Justice Is Not Colorblind - Investors.com

The President's One-Man Death Panel

The President's One-Man Death Panel - Investors.com

Muddled Message: GOP leaders enable Rendell spending

A guest column by Lowman S. Henry on how the Pennsylvania Legislature let taxpayers down again this year by rolling over for another massive (and unsustainable) spending plan by Ed Rendell.

Muddled Message

By Lowman S. Henry

Quick question: which party's legislative leadership would you expect to vote for a budget that plunges the state more deeply into debt by borrowing $600 million; relies on over $800 million in federal funding not yet approved by congress; agrees to levy a new tax on the only major industry in the state experiencing significant growth, creates an entire new government bureaucracy, and is based on unrealistic revenue projections?

If you answered Democrats, you would be right. But, you would also be correct if you answered Republicans. Yes, the entire leadership ranks of the Republican caucuses in the General Assembly joined with Governor Ed Rendell to pass a state budget that has been labeled by critics as a "house of cards," "government by postponement," and lacking in "fiscal sanity." GOP legislative leaders were so out of step the overwhelming majority of members in their own caucuses did not follow, and instead cast votes against the budget.

Driving the Republican leadership's support of what is clearly an unrealistic budget was an overwhelming desire to get the budget passed on time. The single biggest goal for leaders of both political parties was to avoid a replay of last year's 101-day budget stalemate. In the interest of "getting the job done on time," the leaders heaved overboard their party's principles and brand.

This is, unfortunately, not an unprecedented situation. During the early years of Governor Rendell's administration Republican leaders in both the house and the senate routinely broke with their own caucuses and voted to enact the governor's big spending agenda. Those votes, and those budgets, are responsible for the fact the state currently faces a structural deficit estimated to be over $5 billion dollars.

As a result of that desecration of the Republican brand, Republican primary voters rebelled and tossed many of those leaders from office, including the Senate President Pro Tempore and Majority Leader. Also voted out were enough big-spending state house members that Republicans lost their majority status in the lower chamber, a set-back from which they have yet to recover.

In recent years it looked like legislative Republicans had learned their lesson. Particularly in the house, and particularly last year, leaders and caucus members stood united again profligate spending and unreasonable budgets. That unity cracked when senate Republicans ultimately caved in last October to the governor's spending demands. But at least the house stood tall, creating bright lines of difference between them and the majority Democrats that gave birth to optimism the GOP could regain control of the house this year. That bright line has now been blurred.

Also improving GOP chances for legislative gains has been the steadfast position of the party's gubernatorial candidate, Attorney General Tom Corbett, that he will not raise taxes to deal with the state's budget deficit. Corbett correctly understands that Pennsylvania's working families and small businesses cannot afford higher taxes and that state government must now begin to live within our means. To prove he is sincere, Corbett signed the no tax pledge.

Again though, legislative leaders have done their best to muddle the message.
Senate Republican Leader Dominick Pileggi told the Pennsylvania Press Club he doesn't see how Governor Corbett can keep his promise not to raise taxes. Pileggi said Corbett has yet to share with him his strategy for balancing the budget without more revenue.

All Tom Corbett needs to do is point east to New Jersey. There the Garden State's new governor, Chris Christy, has stood tall and dramatically slashed state spending to the point his budget now more accurately reflects the ability of taxpayers to fund state government in the midst of what is shaping up to be a double dip recession. Corbett can learn a lot from Christy, and so could Pileggi. The difference is Corbett is willing to stand on principle and make the tough decisions required of a leader, Pileggi is captive of the tax and spend status quo.

Corbett's message is crisp, realistic, and consistent with core GOP principles. Republican leaders in the legislature, having not learned from past mistakes, have tarnished the brand and in the process diminished their electoral prospects. Fortunately, Corbett will have the bully pulpit going into the General Election campaign. If he pledges to clean up the legislature's fiscal mess, like he has already rooted out legislative corruption, Republicans might still be able to regain the public's trust. It would help though, if Republican leaders in the legislature would start acting more like Republicans, or, if they can't, at least do us the favor of shutting up until after the election.

Lowman S. Henry is chairman & CEO of the Lincoln Institute and host of the weekly Lincoln Radio Journal. His e-mail address is lhenry@lincolninstitute.org

Originally posted at TONY PHYRILLAS

Obama Advisor: Lets Use Cap-and-Trade Taxes to Give Money to Other Countries

[Video] Obama Advisor: Lets Use Cap-and-Trade Taxes to Give Money to Other Countries | NewsBusters.org

What's the Difference?

Originally posted at TONY PHYRILLAS

Health-care rationing has arrived

Health-care rationing is a key component of Obamacare and the president has found his man to oversee the government's efforts to decide who gets future health care and who doesn't. In other words, who lives and who dies.

From CNSNews.com:

President Barack Obama today circumvented the Senate confirmation process by granting a recess appointment to Dr. Donald Berwick to be director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the federal agency that runs Medicare and Medicaid.

Berwick, a professor at Harvard Medical School and CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (a think tank), has expressed his disdain for free-market medicine and his "love" for Great Britain's government-run health-care system, while advocating health-care rationing and using the health-care system to redistribute wealth.

The directorship of CMS normally requires confirmation by the Senate, which currently has a 59-member majority of President Obama's party (counting Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Connecticut Independent who caucuses with Senate Democrats).

Obama initially sent Dr. Berwick's nomination to the Senate in April, where it was assigned to the Senate Finance Committee chaired by Sen. Max Baucus, the Montana Democrat, who had worked closely with the Obama White House in developing the national health-care law that President Obama signed in March. Baucus had not yet scheduled a confirmation hearing for Dr. Berwick.

Read the full story, "Obama's Unconfirmed 'Recess' Appointee to Run Medicare Advocated Rationing, Redistribution of Wealth," here.

Originally posted at TONY PHYRILLAS

U.S. Austerity Necessary to Prevent Hyperinflation

U.S. Austerity Necessary to Prevent Hyperinflation

Governor Rendell Announces Confirmations, Nominations, Appointments

Governor Rendell Announces Confirmations, Nominations, Appointments

Pataki Blasts Berwick Recess Appointment

Pataki Blasts Berwick Recess Appointment

PA Reform Amnesty TV Ad: We DO Know Who You Are

For more information, go to PaCleanSweep.com

Originally posted at TONY PHYRILLAS

Greek Cypriots get loud over Jennifer Lopez gig in northern Cyprus

Pressure continues to build on Jennifer Lopez to cancel her upcoming performance in Turkish Occupied Cyprus. A Facebook page opposing the singer's trip to the rogue nation has received more than 16,000 fans in a matter of days.

From Reuters:

Jennifer Lopez has entered a diplomatic minefield on ethnically split Cyprus after agreeing to perform in its Turkish-held north, stirring anger among thousands of Greek Cypriots.

Lopez is scheduled to perform at the opening of a luxury hotel in north Cyprus on July 24, triggering fury from Greek Cypriots who say it's a slap in the face to people forced to flee from northern Cyprus during a Turkish invasion in 1974.

Greek Cypriots have flooded a Facebook site with angry demands the Latina star cancel her trip while organizers of the event say the show will go on.

"We have a signed agreement with her and it is active," said Murat Bozoglu, a director of the $220 million Cratos Premium hotel in northern Cyprus.

Lopez's publicists were not immediately available for comment. Local newspapers reported she was being paid $3 million for her one-off performance.

Read the full story here.

Originally posted at TONY PHYRILLAS

Poll: Obama overtakes Carter as worst U.S. president

That didn't take long. In office for less than two years, Barack Obama has passed Jimmy Carter as the worst U.S. president of the last 100 years in a new opinion poll conducted by Abrams, Herzog & Filippi for U.S.E. News.

From a U.S.E. News press release:

President Obama is now deemed as the worst President of the United States in the last 100 years by 34% of polled registered voters in the U.S. This eclipses President Carter who was cited by 31% of voters. This in the latest poll just out by Abrams, Herzog & Filippi for U.S.E. News.

"Obama and the Democrats are now seen as doing all they can to collapse the nation financially by a full 64% of registered Republicans. It was only a matter of weeks or months before Obama overtook Carter as the worst President in the eyes of American voters" said Mike Lodee of U.S.E. News.

The question posed to 1438 (49% Female, 51% Male) registered voters was "Who Do You Think Is The Worst President Of The U.S. In The Last 100 Years?" and had as possible answers the previous President Bush, President Carter, President Obama and President Wilson.

"With the massive spending that seems to be increasing every few months it looks like Obama's numbers will only worsen and solidify him as the worst President as America is virtually bankrupt right now" stated Mr. Lodee.

Originally posted at TONY PHYRILLAS

Lame duck Rendell taps into $600M slush fund

With less than six months to go as governor, Ed Rendell has signed a bill into law that raises the state debt limit by $600 million, giving Rendell access to a lucrative slush fund he can spend on his way out the door.

Rendell has already said he will use some of the borrowed tax dollars to pay for new public buildings that would be named after two of his favorite fellow Democrats - U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter and the late Rep. John Murtha.

The slush fund was part of the budget agreement Rendell worked out with Legislative leaders, who gave Rendell a pass on his $28 billion deficit budget for the 2010-11 fiscal year that began July 1.

About half of the projects that the slush fund will finance are being hand-picked by Rendell, while legislators expect to assemble a second list in the coming months that also must be authorized by legislation before they can receive money, according to The Associated Press.

From the AP's Marc Levy:

Rendell is earmarking $10 million for the Arlen Specter Library at Philadelphia University and another $10 million for the John P. Murtha Center for Public Policy at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown.

The Democratic governor also is setting aside $20 million for an "American Revolution Center" in Philadelphia and $30 million for a biologics manufacturing facility in Pittsburgh.

Governor Rendell Signs Legislation

See related editorial, "Spend, spend, spend: Rendell's parting insult," at The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Website.

Originally posted at TONY PHYRILLAS

FRC Action: Donald Berwick's Views on Rationing Will Undermine U.S. Health Care System

FRC Action: Donald Berwick's Views on Rationing Will Undermine U.S. Health Care System

Pataki Blasts Berwick Recess Appointment

Pataki Blasts Berwick Recess Appointment

Family Research Council Praises Veto of Hawaii 'Civil Unions' Bill

Family Research Council Praises Veto of Hawaii 'Civil Unions' Bill

Ros-Lehtinen Warns: 'Do Not Be Fooled by Cuban Regime's Ploys'

Ros-Lehtinen Warns: 'Do Not Be Fooled by Cuban Regime's Ploys'

Agriculture Secretary Warns High Temperatures Can Cause Heat Stress in Livestock, Pets

Agriculture Secretary Warns High Temperatures Can Cause Heat Stress in Livestock, Pets

Illegal Immigration a $113 Billion a Year Drain on U.S. Taxpayers

Illegal Immigration a $113 Billion a Year Drain on U.S. Taxpayers

Obama courting vampire vote?

Obama courting vampire vote? | Washington Examiner

Stopping the Spread

Originally posted at TONY PHYRILLAS

Agriculture Secretary Warns High Temperatures Can Cause Heat Stress in Livestock, Pets

Agriculture Secretary Warns High Temperatures Can Cause Heat Stress in Livestock, Pets

5th anniversary of pay raise prompts questions for would-be governors

A guest post from Tim Potts of DemocracyRisingPA and Eric Epstein of RocktheCapital.org on the 5th anniversary of the infamous legislative pay raise:

HARRISBURG (July 6) – Two groups advocating higher standards of integrity in state government today commemorated the 5th anniversary of the Pay Raise of 2005 by calling on gubernatorial candidates to become aggressive about leading the legislature toward improvements in public integrity, including a Constitution convention.

Speaking at a capitol news conference, Eric Epstein of RocktheCapital.org (RTC) and Tim Potts of Democracy Rising PA (DR) called on Democrat Dan Onorato and Republican Tom Corbett to outline how they would use the power of the governor's office to force the hand of lawmakers unwilling to reform.

Citing a lack of meaningful progress toward an honest and accountable government, Potts said, "Citizens need a megaphone to reach our tone-deaf lawmakers, and the only one loud enough to do the job is the governor."

Epstein also marked the occasion by releasing a 47-page report on 60 current and former lawmakers who took the unconstitutional pay raise and have refused to return it, thereby inflating their pensions.

"The rules have not changed to protect the innocent, and they are not going to change until we have a constitutional convention or a sustained, broad-based insurrection against the political lard gumming up the works," Epstein said.

Potts agreed. "Without a Constitution convention in PA, our future as citizens is not our own. We have become a people of the government, by the government and for the government."

In a three-part questionnaire, the groups ask a dozen questions about the reforms recommended by the 28th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury; WAMs, or Walking Around Money, that fuels lawmakers' pet projects; and the legislature's surplus of $180 million, which is expected to grow to more than $200 million as a result of this year's budget.

One of the questions asks the candidates whether they will call a Special Session on Public Integrity when one of them takes office next January. RTC and DR both called on Gov. Ed Rendell more than two years ago to call such a special session. Rendell refused, saying he didn't think it was necessary. Since then, 25 current and former lawmakers and staff have been charged and convicted of various crimes of public corruption; the state Supreme Court refused to act to prevent one of the worst judicial scandals in American history; and a secretary of revenue resigned hours before being charged with corruption from his days in the General Assembly.

In May, after two years of study, the grand jury recommended dozens of ways to prevent corruption and waste in the General Assembly. It concluded that a Constitution convention was necessary to repair the legislature.

The budget partially enacted last week contains more than $120 million in traditional WAMs and hundreds of millions of dollars in pet capital projects, many or all of which appear to violate the Constitution, according to Potts and Epstein. Incumbent lawmakers use the funds to curry favor with local voters, even as they slash spending on programs, such as state parks and libraries, that serve millions of constituents.

Lawmakers ended last year with an estimated $180 million surplus from previous years. Instead of using the money to prevent cuts to programs, lawmakers have promised to implement cost cost-cutting measures that will increase their surplus by next June 30.

Click here for the questionnaire sent to gubernatorial candidates Dan Onorato and Tom Corbett
Click here for the Rock the Capital report.
Click here for today's statement by DR's Tim Potts.

Judicial Watch Statement on the Obama Administration's Suit over Arizona's Illegal Immigration Law (SB 1070)

Judicial Watch Statement on the Obama Administration's Suit over Arizona's Illegal Immigration Law (SB 1070)

State Police: 10 Killed, 361 Injured in Holiday Driving Period Crashes

State Police: 10 Killed, 361 Injured in Holiday Driving Period Crashes

USA Today Spins Liberal Lincoln Chafee as a 'Centrist' and a 'Moderate''

USA Today Spins Liberal Lincoln Chafee as a 'Centrist' and a 'Moderate' | NewsBusters.org

Emails: Pentagon Colludes with Congressional Offices before Releasing Documents on Congressional Military Travel

Emails: Pentagon Colludes with Congressional Offices before Releasing Documents on Congressional Military Travel

AAA Commends Delaware as it Becomes the 30th State to Prohibit Text Messaging While Driving

AAA Commends Delaware as it Becomes the 30th State to Prohibit Text Messaging While Driving

'Cyprus: Crossroads of Civilizations' coming to Smithsonian

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of independence for the Republic of Cyprus, a special exhibit, "Cyprus: Crossroads of Civilizations," will open at the the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, in Washington, D.C., in September.

The exhibit will feature more than 200 rare artifacts (sculptural figures, jewelry, metalwork, ceramics, and paintings) from the country's 10,000-year-old history.

Ranging from 10,000 B.C. to 1803 A.D., the approximately 220 objects presented in this exhibition are but a fraction of the artifacts discovered by Cypriot and foreign excavators, including many American archaeologists, according to International Arts & Artists.

Ranging from objects of the earliest villages to masterpieces of medieval religious art, this exhibition presents an overview of the unique culture of Cyprus to the North American public for the first time, according to IA&A.

"Cyprus: Crossroads of Civilizations" will run from Sept. 29, 2010, until May 1, 2011, at the Smithsonian.

'Cyprus: Crossroads of Civilizations' to Open at Smithsonian in September

Originally posted at TONY PHYRILLAS

Most Americans Agree With SCOTUS, Say Cities Can't Ban Handguns -- CCRKBA

Most Americans Agree With SCOTUS, Say Cities Can't Ban Handguns -- CCRKBA

National Archives Launches 'Inside The Vaults' New Video Series

National Archives Launches 'Inside The Vaults' New Video Series

Pennsylvania Slot Machine Revenue Rises 8.2% in June

Pennsylvania Slot Machine Revenue Rises 8.2% in June

Columnist: Buyer's Remose By Obama Voters

A new book argues that Barack Obama was marketed as a "new-and-improved" product, like toothpaste or toilet paper. Unfortunately, there's a no-return policy on this defective product.

From an interesting new column by Mary Young in the Reading Eagle about the regret so many voters have expressed in electing an inexperienced socialist-wannabe as president:

The level of support Barack Obama garnered during his campaign for the presidency was phenomenal.

Now, many of the people who worked so hard to get him elected are disenchanted. They know they're unhappy with the way things are going, but may not understand why they feel as though Obama let them down.

Dr. Gary Kaskowitz, an associate professor of management specializing in marketing at Moravian College in Bethlehem, gives us the inside scoop in his book, "Brand It Like Barack."

Kaskowitz said there was no magic to Obama's campaign. It was just good marketing.

Mary Young: Obama voters and buyer's remorse

Originally posted at TONY PHYRILLAS

Wounded Warriors Face New Tax This Independence Day

Wounded Warriors Face New Tax This Independence Day