Hello, all. Sorry I haven't been posting very much. I've been pretty busy since moving to Pennsylvania. As most of you know, I am living with my mother and helping her out a bit (driving her to appointments, overseeing her meds, etc.) and I also joined the Pike County Choral Society in late autumn. Finally, I got a part-time job (yay!!) last month, working the front desk at our community's administration office. I'm finally off unemployment and it feels SOOOO GOOD!!!

I just wanted to write today about the local political scene. It's something I'm just starting to look into, having just registered to vote this week. I know nothing of my state and local politicians and so I have a lot of homework to do in the months ahead. But my first step (other than sending in my voters registration form) was to start reading local papers -- paying close attention to the Opinion pages.

Having heard that my area is predominately conservative, I was pleasantly surprised to find that many Letters to the Editor and a great number of the paid contributors in the Opinion pages seem to be liberal. Just today, on my lunch hour, I found two excellent Letters to the Editor of the Pocono Record, and I'd like to share them with you.

The first points out what little has been done since the GOP took over the Senate here in PA. I'm sad to say that a number of commenters online are obviously conservatives and that Mr. Washington's points went right over their heads. But I found myself cheering when I read his letter and I hope you enjoy it too.

The second letter blew me away by mentioning ALEC!! It's wonderful to see someone write such an informed opinion letter. If you'll scroll down, you'll see some interesting comments below it.

The next phase in my "homework" is to learn about my district, my Rep, and my Senator. If I find any interesting tid bits, I'll be sure to share. Until then, I remain, your "correspondent in PA".

(Cross-posted from Once Upon a Paradigm)