My Sick Mind

I used to enjoy that "Hoarders" TV show. I enjoyed it until show after show started looking the same. It's a parade of mentally ill people collecting junk in their houses and garages. The trouble comes when it isn't just junk. One woman would go shopping and bring home the unopened packages and pile them in a room. The bigger problems are the people who wind up with a house full of trash and garbage. The sorts of things that normal people throw away without even thinking about – soda cans, wrappers and discarded food – lying around on the floor attracting bugs, rodents and finally, a TV crew. The people who have houses full of stuff used to be kind of amusing to me and in a strange way they make me feel better about myself. All it takes for me to start housecleaning is a little clutter. For those people, a little clutter is an impossible dream, and their illness no longer fascinates me. Now I find that it makes me sad. "Oh, don't throw that out, I might ne...

WASHINGTON – Six weeks before midterm elections, House Republicans vowed to cut taxes and federal spending, repeal President Barack Obama's health care law and ban federal funding of abortion as part of a campaign manifesto designed to propel them to victory in November and a majority in the next Congress. The "Pledge to America," circulated to GOP lawmakers Wednesday, emphasizes job creation and spending control, as well as changing the way Congress does business. It steered clear of controversial issues such as Social Security and Medicare, big drivers of deficit spending. Tis the season. No, not Christmas shopping. It's election season. Around here, the big race is for Governor of Pennsylvania, replacing Ed Rendell. The TV ads are coming fast and furiously, and as usual, every one of them thinks they're going to change the way government does business. If you've lived through a dozen or so of these elections, as I have, the messages start to sound the sam...

On June 24, 2010, AT&T signed an agreement with SEPTA which entitled Pattison Station to be renamed AT&T Station in August 2010. The move is to increasing advertising revenue. AT&T would give SEPTA $3 million, and Titan Outdoor LLC, SEPTA's advertising partner, would receive $2 million. SEPTA is also planning to sell rights to other stations. So, there you have it. The first subway station (that I know of) that isn't named after its address. Try telling somebody who isn't familiar with the area that they have to get off at the AT&T Station and let them figure out what street or neighborhood they are in. "Am I on A T and T Street?" No. You're in a commercial development that is represented by a corporation that has purchased naming rights to a public facility. It's almost a good idea. Give us a few million bucks and we'll confuse commuters. That seems like a fair trade. The need for money has driven otherwise sensible people to do ...

WASHINGTON – Another unfavorable decade-old television clip of tea party favorite Christine O'Donnell has emerged, this time with the Delaware GOP Senate candidate saying she "dabbled in witchcraft." Since O'Donnell's upset of nine-term Rep. Mike Castle, opponents have unearthed unflattering television clips. The most recent was aired by Bill Maher, who dug up one of O'Donnell's appearances on his "Politically Incorrect" show in 1999. The context of what led to her comments is not clear, and O'Donnell is laughing while she talks. "I dabbled into witchcraft. I never joined a coven," she said. " ... I hung around people who were doing these things. I'm not making this stuff up. I know what they told me they do," she said. "... One of my first dates with a witch was on a satanic altar, and I didn't know it. I mean, there's little blood there and stuff like that," she said. "We went to ...