Pennsylvania Still Loves Tom Ridge

You know it's not the 60's anymore when Bob Dylan - composer of The Times, They Are A-Changing - plays a theater named after Homeland Security czar Tom Ridge. A Pennsylvania arts center has recently announced the opening of the "Tom Ridge Pavilion." Featured artists will include Pinchas Zuckerman, Marvin Hamlisch, and Bob Dylan. Dylan's latest makeover has him looking somewhat Latino, with a pencil mustache and a gaucho hat.

Why would you name an arts pavilion after a controversial politician? Is Tom Ridge still so popular in Pennsylvania that they don't see him as controversial? http://www.mountainlaurelcenter.org/new/welcome/index.html


Bob Dylan

we also voted in Rendell for Gov when the rest of the Dems bombed in '02.

As head of "Homeland Security" he's come up with a color coded warning system and basically beefed up airport security. Ashcroft and Rumsfeld are controversial and scary. Ridge just seems to be a mild-mannered functionary, maybe a bit dim too. What has Ridge done that is controversial?

really liked Tom when he was governor.(I didn't though) I almost feel sorry for him, his job now is laughable. A number of people speculated that he could of been Bush's running mate in the 2000 election.

And we really like Rendall now. If only the General Assembly would let him get anything done.
http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/6479371.htm

I mean between him and Bob Casey Sr (a dem) I actually preferred Ridge. Then again Ridge didn't go out of his way to help weaken RoeVWade the way that Casey did.

I swear I see Ridge now and I think Aliens have taken over his brain or something because he was never THAT bad when he was governor.

He was not that bad. He may have benefitted from the Clinton economy, the way the rest of the nation did. So, most folks in PA were better off while Ridge was in office than they are now. But that's likely only due to the good economy of the 90's.

Plus Ridge, while Repub and (I think) Catholic, was socially somewhat moderate. In fact, I think he was on the very short list for Bush's Veep, but his social moderate-ism offended the Repuke party faithful, so he was torpedoed. Anyway, Cheney (you'll remember he was vetting candidates for Veep before he decided that, Doggone it, HE was the best candidate!) needed to get the nod so he could increase his already obscene fortune.

Ridge's tenure at Homeland Security is unremarkable, I think in large part because the various gov't agencies won't allow him any authority and Bush won't back him up.

and he oversaw the gutting of our workers' compensation program.

HE'S A PUPPET.

LOL

he'll ask that the name of the place be covered with a curtan.

(EDIT: Oh, sorry. That was Aschroft's move, wasn't it?)

...I think Ridge's Century Rebate was as big a debacle for PA as it gets. Ridge gave away more than $750 million to homeowners in PA in the form of $100 per household. Personally, I'd rather see that money helping the school districts and holding property taxes in line than giving me $100 for a night out with my wife.

This was nothing more than a test drive for the rebate and tax cuts Bush is ramrodding through.

There is a reason Pennsylvania is still a Commonwealth. Sometimes I think it is because we are too stupid for statehood.

Later,
JM

That stupid rebate was a test run for Bush. I just don't understand how people do not realize that the tax rebate checks, like the rebate from Ridge, is just a blatant attempt to buy peoples votes.

And the commonwealth...LOL will never be a state. ;-)

What in the world is wrong with Bob Dylan (or any other artist for that matter) playing at a theater named after Tom Ridge?

I live in the Washington, DC, area, and I regularly fly into and out of Reagan National Airport. I also happen to fly into and out of Dulles International Airport. We all know (I think) who Reagan National Airport was named after, but some may not know that Dulles International Airport was named for John Foster Dulles,l Eisenhower's Secretary of State, who was one of the biggest Cold Warriors. Additionally, I have flown into and out of John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. JFK was also a big cold warrior.

Are you seriously suggesting that we boycott airports/theaters/highways/and other locales that bear the names of people whose politics we happen to disagree with?

What good would that accomplish? In my case, it would mean flying into and out of Baltimore/Washington International Airport, and I know that Washington owned slaves, and I'm sure that Lord Baltimore had some political views I happen to disagree with.

In Washington, one of the major sports venues is the MCI Center. That's MCI as in the firm owned by WorldCom. Should we all boycott the MCI Center? Or how about the Nissan Pavillion? THe Merriweather Post Pavillion? Nissan is a large corportation and Marjorie Merriweather Post was the dauger of a large robber baron.

This particular performing arts center is out in the middle of nowhere, as far as I can tell. The travel directions are somewhat complicated and involve taking state roads to the third traffic light, etc. Since they are advertising in New York City, they are hoping that people will travel great distances to get there. However, New Yorkers as a group generally don't associate anything positive with the name Tom Ridge. It's therefore surprising that entertainment promoters would put up an obstacle like giving the theater a disagreeable name.

The word boycott is too strong in this context. It's just surprising that an entertainment center would name itself after a politician linked to George Bush. You'd see the point more clearly if the name were the "John Ashcroft Hall of Music". I wouldn't boycott the "Condoleezza Rice Art Museum," but I'm not sure I'd travel an hour and a half to get there.

I see him as ridiculous, but nothing he has done in national office has offended me (that I can recall). He's certainly not Rumsfeld or Ashcroft.

And he seemed like an average governor when I was in law school in PA. I didn't pay that much attention to state politics since I didn't plan on staying.

The worst thing about him is his association with this Administration.