Monday link-dump

Busy and productive day, so all these tabs just sat forlornly in my Firefox window until now (!). Here's what I can get noted before my ride arrives (lost my Transpass on my way to lunch today -- ack!!):

• A history of efforts to reform PA's tax system, as state legislators get another try underway...
  
  
• Short notes on Senate candidates -- is Santorum running from Bush? will sparks fly when Casey faces Pennacchio and Sandals?
  
  
• Dan at YPP catches another Santorum outing, in which he decries the death of Europe because of its turn away from Christianity...
  
  
• Sandra Shea doesn't like the way the Gaming Board is handling the casino hearings planned for next week...
  
  
• As Philadelphia's mayor and council argue about the budget, the Daily News looks at the effects of declining federal funds on the total pie being divided, with large cuts possibly still to come.
  
  
• The challenge to Patrick Murphy's appearance on the ballot has failed. Onward to the primary!
  
  
• America's Hometown points us to a report on Philadelphia's new policy of letting parents choose the school for their kids, giving preference to those in the nearby region.
  
  
• Progressive and minimum wage advocate Rep. Mark Cohen took a bit of a drubbing in the paper over the weekend, with reports that he has claimed some $14k in book expenses in each of the last two years. PhilaWillDo ridicules the news, and America's Hometown thinks it's an argument for term limits. I guess this just makes me think of Angel Ortiz's decades-lapsed drivers license -- how did this seem reasonable at the time?
  
  
• Finally, Marc Stier looks at his own call for protests over the minimum wage issue, and at the larger question of whether civil disobedience achieves anything. He concludes that it may be the only way to bring attention to the cause.