Well sock us sideways, if the P.A. State Legislature didn’t finally pass a budget that was over 100 days overdue – and Penn State doesn’t get to see a dime yet! We’ve been waiting longer for this budget to pass than Forrest Gump did for that sleaze Jenny to wander back home and we’re no closer to seeing any green than a meerkat in the Mohave.

It’s a shame the people of Pennsylvania can’t take the mob’s approach on money that’s overdue to them.

More disheartening is the fact that Penn State and other Pennsylvania state-related schools can’t receive their appropriation until a pending bill is passed that would allow table games, such as blackjack and poker, in our state’s casinos as reported by the Daily Collegian. How fitting that “Fast Eddy” Rendell should keep hard working PSU students from receiving state grants with another gambling bill. Unfortunately, he’s gambling on the future of PA’s state-related schools like us and the future of those kids that need those grants to be there.

Poker chips and reaching 21 without busting aren’t nearly as important as keeping students in school and giving Penn State the money it needs. After all, Penn State is generally regarded as one of the biggest contributors to Pennsylvania’s economy, and if it can’t get the money to function correctly, then it can’t generate that helpful revenue.

Penn State is due to receive 333.8 million when this table games bill is passed. That’s a pretty handy chunk of change. If Biggie Smalls were here, he’d be saying “gimme the loot gimme the loot” to our boys in Harrisburg. Actually, scratch that. Nobody in Harrisburg should be “our boys.” If they were, we’d all have our money now.

It’s a shame to realize that strange “Man” and  “Big Brother” that all those hippies used to warn about is still giving us a hard time.

[Photo courtesy of flickr.com]

An earlier version of this post incorrectly referred to the Pennsylvania state-related schools as state schools.