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Irony, thy name be Pennsyltucky

(Photo from the ever-invaluable Philebrity)

For a number of years now, cynics have been merging the name of two of what Jon Stewart would call America's "fringe states," Pennsylvania and Kentucky, into a common heritage of unfairly stereotyped corruption and ignorance (OK, the corruption part is actually real) called Pennsyltucky.

So now, in the most anticipated marriage of two worlds since some guy got chocolate on some other guy's peanut butter, Philly's own poster child for graft and moral decay, former state senator Vince Fumo may be bound for Kentucky! But apparently Fumo's not in on the joke:

With just a week before he starts serving a 55-month sentence, former State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo is fighting his assignment to a prison in Kentucky, saying it is too far from home.

His lawyer contends:

"It is on the outer edge of reasonableness," Goldberger said, referring to the distance. "That's the first one [prison] they gave us. But it's not settled for another week."

I can't feign much sympathy for Fumo, a man who functioned on the outer edge of reasonableness, and beyond, with our tax dollars for nearly four decades. Maybe some time in the Bluegrass State will do him some good, and he'll be back in a couple of years with a newfound antipathy for the revenuers -- something he didn't display in Harrisburg -- and a fondness for moonshine instead of Xanax.

In another irony involving convicted felons in Pennsylvania, has anyone done more in America to raise awareness about the scourge of dogfighting than Michael Vick?. Stories that would have been tiny briefs in Philadelphia are getting big play now that No. 7 has flown his Grey Goose into town.