Former Vice President Dick Cheney – God, I love saying “former” – has been passing on the turkey and gravy for some time now, apparently. He is freaking skinny!

If you don’t believe me, click here.

• On a more serious note, Pittsburgh became the first Pennsylvania city to ban gas drilling. The unanimous vote by Pittsburgh City Council imposes a total ban on drilling within the city limits. Councilman Doug Shields said that drilling companies were putting jobs and making money before people’s health, according to the Associated Press. Attorneys for the gas companies promised to sue.
• In case you haven’t noticed, natural gas is quite lucrative these days. EOG Resources recently sold 50,000 net acres in Bradford County to Houston-based Newfield Exploration Co., for $405 million.
• The Philadelphia Inquirer published a great article on the financial benefits of open space. You know … not drilling all the resources out of the land. According to the article, Chester County has protected 144.7 square miles.

This open space resulted in $2.1 billion in added property value (or $11,060 per home), 3,225 jobs, $10.7 million in total taxes, and more.

The full story by Diane Mastrull is here.

Michael Hays, the author of this post, is the communications chair of the Chester County Young Democrats and a borough council member in Spring City.

It is just the latest example of a pro-consumer measure passed by the Democratic-controlled Congress. The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 will help keep harmful toys away from kids. According to SaferProducts.Gov, “selling recalled products is now unlawful. The law sets strict limits for lead in paint and for lead content. Additionally, three types of phthalates are permanently prohibited in certain toys and child care articles and three other phthalates are prohibited on an interim basis in certain child care articles and children’s products that can be placed in a child’s mouth.”

Surprisingly, the Nov. 24 vote by the CPSC was 3-2. Maybe the two members voting against considered the measure to be “anti-business,” or perhaps an “un-funded mandate.”

Michael Hays, the author of this post, is the communications chair of the Chester County Young Democrats and a borough council member in Spring City.

My president is humbled. Democrats across the nation, and especially Pennsylvania, have just endured a thumping on Election Day 2010.

Through the fog of the past six months – campaign events, phone calls, and door knocks – I am starting to think about what we will do over the next few months. Now is no time to run scared or retreat into a comfortable private life. Afterall, just two years ago, the Republican Party appeared to be on life support and WE started ushering a new progressive era.

Things change quickly. With Sen. Pat Toomey, Gov. Tom Corbett, and a GOP controlled General Assembly on the horizon in January, here are a few things for us to fight for:

• Health care defense – This is the law of the land. We must defend it. Get your veto pen ready, President Obama.

Corbett is suing the federal government to overturn the most comprehensive health care reform law, one which will undoubtedly help the middle class. Congressman Gerlach, Majority Leader Boehner, and others want to “repeal and replace” it. However, Nov. 2 was not a repudiation of the health care law, as Ethan Rome wrote in The Huffington Post.

Remember the summer of town hall forums and how freaking annoying the tea baggers were? We need to be just as vociferous and passionate – as well as fact-driven.

• Protecting our environment – Governor-elect Corbett, known in some parts as the natural gas industry’s best friend since Dick Cheney, will try to grease the wheels of this new industry as much as he can. Jobs will be created, which we desperately need. Nevertheless, commerce should never trump the public interest – our water, air, and land.

We all have a few friends who are ultra-passionate about the environment. Learn about the issues. Lobby Congress and Harrisburg lawmakers with our green friends. In short, we must defend and fight for our resources for future generations.

• Public institutions – Medicare and Social Security are two of the most popular American public institutions. And they smack of socialism, don’t they? At every turn with this new Congress, our bedrocks of American civic life – our most cherished institutions – may come under attack.

We will demand that Wall Street keep its hands off Social Security. We Democrats will fight to ensure that public education offers an equal opportunity for all to securing the American dream.

We are the party that believes in effective government; by their very nature, Republicans do not.

Remember what Teddy Kennedy said in 1980 after losing the nomination for president:

“For me, a few hours ago, this campaign came to an end. For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die.”

Today, I must clean out our Democratic HQ on Bridge Street in Spring City. Peace to everyone.

Michael Hays, the author of this post, is the communications chair of the Chester County Young Democrats. He is an elected member of the Spring City Borough Council.

For a change, Rep. Tim Hennessey got something right. The vote was 104-94, so each of the 12 Republican votes really counted, including Hennessey’s.

Thank you, Tim. The tax, if approved by the Senate, would charge 39 cents per 1,000 cubic feet, or roughly 10 percent, according to the Inquirer.

Portions of Pennsylvania have huge deposits of natural gas in what is now famously (or infamously) known as the Marcellus Shale. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection – having received steep funding cuts the last two years – is tasked with policing the Marcellus industry. Accidents have already occurred throughout the state.

Opponents of “fracking” – whereby fluids are injected into hard rock formation – say the state’s water resources will be compromised. The industry says thousands of good-paying jobs are being created.

A new website, Marcellus Money, was recently launched to help citizens track the loads of lobbying money changing hands on this issue. Go to MarcellusMoney.org and type in your legislator’s or congressman’s name.

Type in Tom Corbett. He wants to be the next governor of Pennsylvania. Corbett received over $372,000 from the natural gas and Marcellus industries, according to the website.

He  opposes the tax. Shocking, I know.

Dan Onorato, the Democrat for governor, has a different idea. He wants a fair “severance” tax in place. He would use the money to replenish and fully staff DEP, support another Growing Greener program, and place some of the money in a fund to repair local roads and other infrastructure harmed by the industry. Read his views here.

However, Onorato has accepted about $74,000 from the industry, according to the website.

Besides having gray hair, Corbett and Hennessey have at least one thing in common. They both want to overturn America’s new health care reform law. Good luck with that. A new Associated Press poll shows that four in 10 Americans actually think it didn’t go far enough.

Michael Hays, the author of this post, is a coucilman in Spring City and the communications chair of the Chester County Young Democrats.

I watched Democrats win control of Congress in a little bar tucked away in Arizona called The Desert Martini.

The stranger wearing a straw hat next to me declared, “This is a historic night.”

I could not believe it! A country that had twice elected George W. Bush as president was really picking progressives to run the country. When Rick Santorum officially lost to Bob Casey Jr., I almost bought a shot for everyone at the Martini.

Enough nostalgia.

After four years of setting the agenda in Washington to move the country forward, this Democrat is not ready to give it up in 2010. There is too much at stake:

• Republicans are salivating over their delusional opportunity to repeal the health care reform law signed by President Obama. Congressman Gerlach would vote to repeal (and has said so on-the-record). Congressman Pitts – well you know how he would vote.
• Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett sued the federal government over the Affordable Care Act mentioned above, which would help millions of people obtain health care through private providers (not the government). Corbett would continue this crusade if he gets the keys to Harrisburg this November from outgoing Gov. Ed Rendell.
• Remember tax cuts for the rich? Well, it would see a renaissance in a GOP Congress.

We have so much more to accomplish in Obama’s first term: climate change legislation, infrastructure investments, high-speed rail, education reform, stem-cell research … you name it.

But the Party of ‘NO’ has other plans. Hijacked by the tea party uprising – one that features the same tired flavor of the John Birch Society and other anti-government forces – the Republicans are counting on you staying home on Nov. 2. Our candidates are practically running from Obama.

Republicans want you to be tired, listless, and disheartened. They want you to forget about hope and change.

E.J. Dionne of The Washington Post wrote a column early this summer entitled, “Buck up Democrats; no time to run scared.” He says Democrats ought to be proud of tackling health care, reigning in Wall Street excesses, and rolling out a bold economic stimulus that experts agree saved jobs.

Dionne wrote, “Obama is often criticized for being too professorial. The irony is that Republicans who have little to say about how to solve the nation’s major problems are dominating the country’s underlying philosophical narrative.”

The cure for Dems’ malaise, he concludes, is to “have a self-confident sense of purpose and to act boldly in its pursuit.”

Former President Bill Clinton delivered a similar message at the Dan Onoroto fundraiser in Philly last month. Hey Dan, Sestak is campaigning with Obama soon. Got any plans to use No. 44?

Chester County Democrats, and liberals everywhere, would do well by embracing these principles: Purpose. Pride. Progress. (This is also the motto of a municipality in southern New Jersey.)

Barry Goldwater, conservative presidential candidate in 1960, gets the last word in this column. Consider it a speech from the future if we continue down the lackluster road we’re on.

“We have lost election after election in this country over the past several years because (we) get mad and stay home. This country is too important for anyone’s feelings … for any man to stay home and not work just because his feelings are hurt. Let’s grow up! Let’s get to work!”

Michael Hays, the author of this post, is communications chair for the Chester County Young Democrats and a Spring City councilman.

As I enjoyed a cold pint of beer the other day, a familiar yellow banner appeared in the background. Sure enough, the tea party’s “Don’t Tread of Me” flag was proudly hanging for all to see in the main tap room.

Something tells me Sly Fox won’t be appearing anytime soon on the Act Blue website, which encourages consumers to support progressive-leaning companies. Ask Sly Fox about it here.

I’ll take my beer dollars elsewhere, likely to Craft Ale House in Limerick (off Ridge Pike next to the township building).

Friends don’t let friends mix toxic tea with good hops.

Michael Hays, the author, is a council member in Spring City Borough. He once worked at Mudshark Brewery in Lake Havasu City, Ariz.

According to an Wednesday email from DFA Chair Jim Dean, Fern Kaufman won the most votes in online balloting. “All-Star” status means more resources on the ground as she tries to defeat long-term incumbent, Republican Tim Hennessey.

Dean stated, “It’s not difficult to see why Fern won this hard-fought endorsement. Just look at how she describes the grassroots campaign she’s running.”

Kaufman: “Grassroots organizing is key to any electoral victory. Too often campaign managers or candidates believe they lost because they didn’t raise enough money, or have enough mailers, or media time. This could not be further from the truth, from day one this campaign believes in and promotes the life blood of a sound, sophisticated, well organized volunteer grassroots network of supporters talking to their neighbors and friends directly about why they are supporting our candidate.”

DFA, which grew and evolved in 2003 after Howard Dean’s unsuccessful bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, also endorsed Trivedi last week.

Said Jim Dean, “If we’re going to elect a progressive majority that will fight for the people and not the powerful, we need to defeat vulnerable Republican incumbents like Jim Gerlach and replace them with progressive fighters.”

Today, the Daily Local News reported on Trivedi’s plan for job creation. No suprise, but partisan hack Mark Campbell tried to deflect attention away from Gerlach’s failed record in Congress.

And the comments on this story are great.

Michael Hays, the author of this post, is communications chair for the Chester County Young Democrats and a Spring City councilman.

Here is Betty’s Link: Enjoy.

Teachers and cops. Let’s line up behind them this time. They need our help. NOW.

This detailed traffic and land use plan advocates for the reduction of suburban sprawl and the revitalization of older boroughs. The re-introduction of passenger rail service beyond Norristown is one possible solution.

Spring City Borough, East Vincent Township, and East Pikeland Township are among several municipalities that passed resolutions in support of the plan.

The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, in conjunction with county planning commissions and PennDOT, released the plan earlier this year. Comments are being accepted through August.

Phoenixville Council has seen the plan, but has not yet discussed it, according to one council member.

On a lighter, disappointing note, someone had something not-so-nice to say about me in The Phoenix after Spring City gave the 422 plan a thumbs up. You know what your mother used to say about sticks and stones ….

The author, Michael Hays, is a member of Spring City Borough Council.