Sunday, February 1, 2009

Hello Pike County Pennsylvanians

The message from the sign I carried on Inauguration Day--"Dear World, We're Back! Love, USA"--continues to spread across the Interwebs, various tubes, portals, and social media sites. Here it is in the Pike County Dispatch, a newspaper in rural, northeast Pennsylvania:

The article is written by Eric Langberg, who took a picture of the sign at the Inauguration and posted it on Twitpic, where it's now been viewed nearly 200,000 times. Only part of the article is accessible online. To see the rest you have to get an actual copy of the Dispatch

Some fun facts about Pike County: 
  • In 2007, Pike County had 42,493 registered voters: 19,653 Republicans, 14,692 Democrats, and 8,148 "others."
  • Pike County voted for McCain over Obama, 12,456 (52%) to 11,448 (47%). 
  • Pike County county is part of Pennsylvania's 10th Congressional District, which just re-elected Democratic Representative Chris Carney, 56% to 44%, over his Republican challenger. When Carney was first elected in 2006, he became the first Democrat to represent the district since 1961.
  • Pike County is considered the westernmost edge of the Greater New York area surrounding New York City and is the fastest-growing county in Pennsylvania.
If you are visiting Better Than Machines after seeing the yellow "Dear World" sign...
  • Check out these three posts for the story behind the sign and an explanation of what it really means.
  • Join the discussion in the comments sections about how exactly we're back...and how we still have a long way to go.

5 comments:

Becky said...

Hey Pike County! I like this " better know a district" feature!

Wah, I want a copy of the paper. Is it easy to order and can you post a link?

Dave said...

The fightin' 10th!

I'll see what's required to order a copy. The only thing I see so far is a list of places where you can buy the paper in Pennsylvania and New York.

Amy said...

Very cool! Thanks for the info. Maybe that should be a regular feature as well.

Anonymous said...

Hey BTM ~ i first saw yr pic in the Pike Country paper ... cut out the pic and put it on my fridge! Yes.

we are a purple county indeed with a LOT of NRA gun owners types. Consider the huge billboard on Rt 6 west: "We Buy Guns" with a "***-*** Guns" phone number.

A lot of our Obama signs were disappeared. The spectres of ann coulter & rush limbaugh haunts this beautiful county ... There's a measure of deep wingnut mentality ... is scary sometimes.

Meanwhile, standing ovation for yr sign - Love it!

Dave said...

Thanks for the good word! Keep the faith up there in Purple Pike County. The "center" is shifting these days, so who knows how blue things might get up there.

I bet it is a beautiful area. My wife and I have taken several weekend trips up into Pennsylvania. It's just a bigger, wilder state than we realized. But we've never been that far east. That will have to be our next trip.