It has come as a revelation to me how much Philadelphians love Philadelphia. I know that is a startling assertion, given our reputation for relentless negativity, so I want to parse this carefully.

SO VINCE FUMO's saga goes on. Is anyone surprised? Could The Vince ever go quietly into that good night or, in this case, that good hoosegow?

WONDERING WHAT your elected state officials do on your dime during a budget crisis? I mean, besides collect their salaries (which House Democrats did even before state workers got paid) and file for per diems up to $158 a day.

NORMALLY I DISDAIN nut-case issues, because covering politics already provides me a steady diet of folly. But this "birther" baloney just keeps cookin', so I can't help but take a bite.

SO, FOR Joe Sestak it's into the meat grinder of a campaign against Arlen Specter. This is like seeing Sweeney Todd for a shave. Enter his shop, ya might get your throat cut.

NOW FOR a no-budget update from your state Capitol, soon to be renamed the Museum of Unworkable Devices. Why not? Arizona, one of only three other states along with Connecticut and North Carolina still without a budget, is looking to sell off its state buildings.

I FIND IT bothersome that President Obama plans to vacation at a costly compound on Martha's Vineyard while the nation's in a deep recession and still sending its sons and daughters off to two foreign wars.

THE GONNA-HAPPEN-someday-soon-I-really-mean-it candidacy of Joe Sestak is, if nothing else, interesting. And not just because the second-term suburban Democratic congressman seeks to battle the shortfin mako shark of Pennsylvania, Arlen Specter.

GOV. ED's still got it - the Philly thing that is. Even though a new Quinnipiac University statewide poll shows Rendell with the lowest job-approval rating of his incumbency and dismal numbers on handling the economy and the overdue budget, a majority of Philly voters say he's doing fine.

DOZENS of our lawmakers canceled out of this week's National Conference of State Legislatures summit in Philly, likely losing $15,000 in prepaid registration fees charged to taxpayers.

ALONG THE rough and rutted road of the state budget impasse, we're seeing little side trips to a place I call EdWorld. It's a land of outlooks reflecting only the views of the state's First Ed. Think reality in a fun-house mirror.

Before sunrise, I went to my son Jaime's room and woke him.

It has been more than two weeks since I reported on the infamous "Angel of Death" clause within legislation for national health care, and correspondence still arrives denouncing the column as a dishonest report.

In the early 1990s, the Bristol Township school board planned to raise taxes, big.

At the National Constitution Center a week ago, U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter looked spectral as a crowd of hundreds booed and jeered him and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius at a "town hall" meeting on health care.

It's August, which means odd stories arise throughout Bucks County. It never fails.