Republicans in the state Senate — including state Sen. Michele Brooks, R-50, Jamestown — support a resolution urging President Joe Biden renew plans for the Keystone XL pipeline.
This pipe line is a bad idea. The oil that travels through the pipeline is not “our” oil. It is Canadian oil, and it is some of the dirtiest oil on the planet.
The oil must be heated to be transported. It is tar sand oil and is very abrasive and acidic. When it leaks (it is 3 times more likely to spill than conventional oil per mile traveled) it will have disastrous results.
It is extremely difficult to clean up — it doesn’t even float. Keep in mind that pipelines do not produce oil, they only transport it. This pipeline is basically a short cut; no additional oil will result.
This pipe line would terminate in Steel City, Nebraska, and eventually end up in the Gulf (probably Houston) where it will be refined and loaded onto ships for export. It will be sold to the highest bidder.
In a March 2nd Sharon Herald article (“PA senators urge Biden to revive Keystone XL pipeline project”) pipeline supporters said “It will create economic development.”
If the Republicans’ main concern is jobs, where were the vast majority of the GOP’s U.S. Representatives and Senators on the federal infrastructure bill? (A few Republicans did vote for it in the House and the Senate).
The infrastructure Act will create about 2 million jobs per year and specifies that material used in similar projects must use American iron and steel. Is there any provision that mandates that for the Keystone XL pipeline?
This pipe line will create only about 50 permanent jobs. It will cross indigenous tribal lands, and will put the Ogallala Aquifer, which provides drinking water for millions and 30 percent of America’s irrigation water, at risk.
This pipe line is an extremely bad idea, it may benefit a few who are not even Americans, but it will put many millions of others at risk. I understand a vote has been taken in the PA Senate already. But I hope Senator Brooks and other officials do not support this extremely bad idea in the future.
Charles Baldoff
​Hermitage

Representative Mike Kelly just sent his constituents an email titled “Critical Race Theory is Poison” in which he either lied or revealed his ignorance. Critical Race Theory (CRT) holds that citizens should think critically about the effect race relations have had on our country. Kelly misrepresented CRT as “a dogma that preaches American society is defined only by racism, and that we as individuals are either oppressors or oppressed based solely on the color of our skin.” Kelly either has NO critical reasoning ability or he is so venal he is willing to perpetuate lies about how our country was formed and how it hurt a lot of people.
“Critical thinking” has nothing to do with “criticizing” something. It is about looking at the facts clearly and in depth. What happened, how, why, and what effect did it have.
I will use critical thinking to parse Kelly’s remarks. He wrote, “We know that the United States is a fundamentally good nation that was the first in human history to articulate that all human beings are equal, and then to strive to live up to that ideal.” The founders wrote that “all human beings are equal,” but the laws they wrote excluded natives, women, and slaves. Abolitionists and women’s suffragists did strive for equality, but it took hundreds of years of fighting the status quo to get to where we are, which is by no means ideal. Kelly wrote that “we ended slavery, we ended Jim Crow…” Thinking critically, we understand that Jim Crow laws were written to replace slavery and continue to exploit blacks and deny them the vote. So, yes, after “we” instituted Jim Crow, some Americans fought to end it while others fought to keep it.
Kelly co-opted “Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream that people would be judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” Mr. Kelly, no one thinks that all white people are bent on whitewashing history and denying American’s racist and sexist past, but we can all see that you are; that reveals the content of your character.
The email ends by stating that “[CRT] is a false and destructive narrative that is being used to divide us and undermine our institutions.” Kelly’s email is a false and destructive narrative that is being used to divide us and keep Kelly and his ilk in power.
Chris Renz

The Democratic Women of Mercer County adopted a portion of Route 62 between Hermitage and Mercer a few years ago, and we were out in force to take care of "our baby" on May 2, 2021. It was a beautiful day for it, and we had a good turn out. We're Democrats, so we care about our community and the environment!

​Here is a link to the Official Notice of Election for Military and Overseas Voters 2021 Municipal Primary Election May 18, 2021. It's a very long document. First, it tells you that you can still register to vote up to May 3rd. Then, it tells you how to get mail-in ballots, if you like. Democrats and Republicans can vote in all state, county, school district, and municipal contests. Unaffiliated voters can only vote on the constitutional amendments. Unaffiliated voters in Deer Creek, French Creek, Mill Creek, New Lebanon, Sandy Creek, and Wolf Creek can also vote on a Small Games of Chance proposal.
After that, it lists the statewide races, which this year are for judges on the appellate courts: Supreme Court,  Superior Court, and Commonwealth Court.
Then come the county-wide races. Tom Amundsen is the only Democrat on the ballot for County Controller, a job he has performed admirably since 2001. He will have a Republican opponent in the general election this fall. All of the men running for Common Pleas Court Judge are Republicans who have cross-filed. No Democrat is running.
To find out who is running in your local races, you may need to do some scrolling. They are listed alphabetically.

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Humans have been preaching some form of The Golden Rule for 4,000 years, from ancient Egypt to Greece, Persia, China, Africa. All over the world and through many religions, people have been trying to live and govern according to this precept.

I have access to healthcare. I get preventative check-ups and vaccines. If I get sick, I will get care. I am a Democrat because I think everyone should have healthcare. Obviously, it can be done. It is done in 117 countries. I don’t know how an ethical person can believe that we should let people sicken and die, or live and go bankrupt, because they don’t have money. Do unto others.

Hillel the Elder, a Jewish rabbi from Babylon, famously said, “What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow.”
I am a white, middle class woman. I recognize how privileged that makes me. No one follows me around a store thinking I might shoplift. I’ve been hired in lots of jobs because I knew someone who knew someone—someone who looked like me. I don’t know how it feels to be distrusted, excluded, or even feared, by people who don’t even know me. I am a Democrat because I think we need to acknowledge systemic racism and do what we can to fix our systems. What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow.

The world is not fair, but we have to strive for fairness, just as humans have been striving, in fits and starts, for millennia. America has made great progress since 1776, but we have a long way to go, and we seem to be backsliding. I am a Democrat because I want us to continue on the path to fairness; because I believe in The Golden Rule.  

Chris R.

On November 24th, The Sharon Herald offered the following editorial chastising Congressman Mike Kelly for signing on to a lawsuit attempting to throw out all "no-excuse" mail-in ballots in the November 3rd election. Read it on The Herald's site or below: 

OPINION: Voters should remember Kelly's shameful attempt to subvert democracy

U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, a Republican from Butler, cruised to his sixth consecutive term on Nov. 3 by a nearly 2-1 margin. Obviously, Kelly has done a lot that voters in his conservative 16th Congressional District like.
But here's one thing they shouldn't like, regardless of their politics: A lawsuit Kelly filed Saturday in the Commonwealth Court that would throw out more than 2 million votes cast by the people of Pennsylvania.
With that post-game Hail Mary pass, Kelly joined the rest of President Donald Trump's A-team, desperately seeking to undo Democrat Joe Biden's victory with baseless lawsuits in key battleground states.
Many Republicans, gradually and grudgingly, have accepted Trump's defeat, while others, including Kelly, have continued to drink the Kool-Aid, no matter what the cost to democracy.
Even among a flurry of frivolous post-election lawsuits, most of which were quickly tossed, Kelly's suit stands out for its reckless disregard for his constituents' constitutional rights. Scrapping Act 77, a year after Pennsylvania's GOP-controlled General Assembly overwhelmingly approved it, would disenfranchise more than 2 million mail voters in the Nov. 3 election.
Without legal precedent or moral principle, Kelly argues Act. 77, signed into law in October of 2019, is invalid because it authorized expanding mail voting without a constitutional amendment.
The suit ignores that Pennsylvania prohibits constitutional challenges after six months.
Moreover, nothing in the state, or U.S., Constitution restricts the Pennsylvania General Assembly from expanding mail-in voting without a ballot referendum. On the contrary, the constitution, historically, has expanded suffrage and eliminated barriers to voting.
Kelly's lawsuit also calls for sweeping and draconian remedies no judge of sound mind would approve – without compelling evidence of significant and decisive fraud or error that no state or county election official in Pennsylvania has reported or alleged. The suit asks the court to prohibit election results that include mail ballots; or, alternatively, to throw out all the votes and authorize state legislators to choose delegates to award the state's 20 electoral votes.
Either of those so-called remedies would snatch the election out of the people's hands. They suggest Kelly's allegiance to the president outweighs his commitment to his constituents, and the sanctity of the vote. With no chance to prevail, the suit can serve only to further erode trust in government by de-legitimizing the 2020 presidential election.
In a post-election interview, Kelly stated the law, not media projections, would determine the election. In truth, the voters determined it more than two weeks ago.
The people have spoken; like it or not, Kelly should have listened. His record has already been tarnished by an overbearing, if inconsequential, act of partisanship that voters should not forget.

 The two Georgia Senate races were special elections. The rules state that if no candidate gets 50% of the vote, there will be a runoff election on January 5, 2021 between the two top candidates in each race. The Democrat candidates in the runoff are Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff. If we want to take back control from Mitch McConnell, and ensure that Joe Biden will be able to sign much needed legislation, we need to help win those seats! And, we need to do it ASAP! The Federal Election Commission (FEC) deadline for reporting campaign donations is December 1st.

Donations

Jon Ossoff  through Act Blue https://secure.actblue.com/donate/ms_hp_ossoff, or mail a check payable to "Jon Ossoff for Senate" to P.O. Box 450326, Atlanta, GA 31145

Rev. Raphael Warnock through ActBlue: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/warnock-for-georgia_web, or mail a check payable to “Warnock for Georgia” to PO Box 991, Decatur, GA 30031

Fair Fight, Stacey Abram's voting rights organization that has been extremely successful in registering voters and getting out the vote in Georgia, through secure.actblue.com/donate/fair-fight-1, or mail a check payable to Fair Fight to 1270 Caroline St., Ste. D120-311, Atlanta, GA 30307.
 
Phone Bank

For Jon Ossoff:
https://www.mobilize.us/electjon/event/362688

For Rev. Raphael Warnock:
https://secure.warnockforgeorgia.com/page/s/website_vol

Write letters or postcards 

Visit https://votefwd.org/ or https://www.gapostcard.org/ and watch for information to be posted soon on how you can get involved. 

The Democrats can win these seats! We need them if we want to preserve and expand access to healthcare for all Americans; if we want to protect Social Security; if we want to promote infrastructure and alternative energy jobs and innovations; if we want to create a brighter future for America.