Almost No Reason To Drive To Jersey Anymore

Pennsylvanians used to love to drive to New jersey for at least one reason: the gas was way cheaper there (20-30 centers per gallon - no lie) and they pumped it for you- no self-service allowed by state law.

Was in New Jersey this morning and planned to get gas BUT they must have raised the state gas taxes cause the New Jersey prices are now the same as in Pennsylvania. So Now we Pennsylvanians have almost no reason to visit New Jersey anymore (unless we are going to the shore).

College Towns

If I had to do it all over again, I think I would have liked to live in a small college town. Was in downtown Princeton this morning for business meeting. What a nice town!!

If You Are A Simpsons Fan

Check out this link. It's an interview by the Simpsons Comic Book Guy with Mary Mapes. Very good stuff IMHO.

http://wuzzadem.typepad.com/wuz/2005/11/cbg.html

One Out Of Every Eight Classmates Killed

A friend of mine was at West Point this weekend for his kids' swim meet. He wandered around the campus and told me they have an area that honors every West Point grad who has been killed in action.

He mentioned the class of 1965 had about 125 names on the wall to reflect those killed since graduation. We guessed each class at West Point has maybe 1,000 cadets. If that is an accurate number, it means about one out of every eight cadets from the class of 1965 has been killed in action.

Those admitted to America's highly selective military academies are the country's best and brightest young people. Makes you stop and think for a moment. What would the country do without their talents, strength, and courage to put themselves in harm's way for all of us?

Lotta Fuss For So Few Viewers

I have read two columns in the last two days by fairly bigtime (Cheyney's favorite adjective for MSM as you may recall) columnists, Ruth Marcus and Froma Harrop. Both bemoaned Fox News' Bill O'Reilly and his campaign about companies, stores and ACLU-types trying to put the clamps on Merry Christmas.

Now, let's agree witrh certain facts....O' Reilly and Fox News probably get less than 25% of the ratings that EACH of the three MSM networks channels get. That means that if Fox gets 3 Million viewers, the other three MSM stations (ABC, NBC and CBS) get 36 million combined [ Fox = 3 Million x 4 (for 25%) x 3 stations = 36 million]. Put more simply, the three MSM networks gets 12 viewers for for every 1 watching Fox. Got that?

So why are these two writing about O'Reilly and Fox whose ratings are so insignificant compared to MSM networks. Perhap it disturbds them thatFox represents another voice. I believe the influence and reign of the Harrops and Marcus types is fast coming to an end, they know it and that pisses them off BIGTIME (I like this adjective too). How dumb do Harrop and Marcus look by writing about this issue if "Faux News" is so biased and irrelevant.

We Are Selfish & Lazy But Claim To Be Too Busy

I went out to take a walk and mail a letter. It snowed the other day so the curbs and streets are still messy and there are intermittent piles of snow where the town could not plow cause some of my neighbors (the fat and lazy family a few doors down) did not get off their fat butts to move their cars (street is always plowed since it’s a snow emergency route and you are supposed to to move your car when it snows so they can plow the street).

But I digress. I went out the door and some lady had gotten her car stuck in one of the snowpiles caused by the fat family when she tried to drive over a snow pile. I offered to push her car and just asked to not run me over by putting the car in drive instead of reverse. Her car was at a 45-degree angle to the curb and she could not speak English very well so I had reason to be a little concerned that any miscommunication could cost me. Anyway, by pushing and leveraging myself against a tree, and a little shoveling under a wheel, I got her car free. It was a little difficult pushing her car because she did not seem to realize she could assist my efforts by pressing the gas pedal. Anyway she was appreciative but I did notice no one else stopped to help her. Now, this is a busy street and at least 20-30 cars pass by every minute. She was out there at least 15 minutes cause I saw her before I left the house, would have helped her sooner but thought she went to her office to get some help.

I assume no one else stopped because “we are all so busy today”. IMHO, that attitude is a gigantic crock. People are not busier today; they are just doing more optional stuff so they think they are busier. There is no frigging way the average American today is busier than a working mother from the 1950’s or1960’s. Today, you have far fewer kids per family, much bigger houses, more bathrooms, more clothes, electronic banking, microwaves, buy take-out food or eat in a restaurant 3-4 times a week, own 2-3 cars per family, have the internet, make more money, own many more gadgets, and take longer and more expensive vacations and have many more career options!

The reason we think we are oh so busy is we are generally just self-centered, selfish, lazy, fat, soft complaining Americans. The Greatest Generation would hate us but for the fact they are our parents. And believe me, they pray and hope we change our whiny ways so they can die in peace.

Speaking Of A Bipolar Passenger Disrupting A Plane

The airport shooting incident yesterday brought to mind the case of NFL player, Alonzo Spellman, who disrupted a plane while in flight in 2002.

Since Spellman was an enormous 6'6" and 320 lbs of muscle, he absolutely terrified in flight his fellow passengers, crew and pilots not to mention the cops who came to arrest him when the plane landed. ......

"Once on the ground, Spellman refused to disembark for about 10 minutes and repeatedly threatened the pilot, court records said. ''I can feel the adrenaline rushing through my hands. I am about to rip your throat out,'' Spellman told Capt. Robert Freund, according to investigators.

Part of his court sentence was that he could not fly again unless he took his medication. Here is the link to an old ESPN story about the case. Spellman was no run of the mill player..he was drafted in the first round out of Ohio State. I remember the case because he is just a local guy from over the river in South Jersey (Rancocas I believe).

http://espn.go.com/nfl/news/2002/0802/1413498.html

Pajamas Media- The Idea Was To Do Blog Coverage - Right?

I read a little this morning about Ann Coulter's visit to the University of Connecticut. She was supposed to give a speech but the attendees apparently shouted her down so she cut the speech short to only 15 minutes. I got this news via an Associated Press story in which the writer said (paraphrasing here) Coulter had once suggested women should not have the right to vote.

Anyway, the point of this post is to ask why there was no "blog" coverage of the event by Pajamas Media?? I thought one of the key reasons behind PM was to create this all-present and available news coverage from local bloggers. Just asking you know? Am I right?

FYI, here is the link to the AP story for your reading pleasure.

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/12/07/D8EBR6D00.html

Who Will The Lawyers Sue Next?

This just in- the Eskimos have decided to sue America (the dastardly villains behind alleged global warming) because their homes (aka frozen frigging tundra) are melting.

Below I have provided the link to the news story.

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/12/07/051207182757.ht1oak7y.html

That's One Way To Beat A Ticket

From The Philadelphia Daily News on 12/6/05 via A.P.

Hit by car, he gets ticket for jaywalking, then dies
A 73-year-old man who received a $5 jaywalking ticket after he was struck by a car later died of his injuries, Washington, D.C., police said yesterday. Charles Atherton, a former secretary of the U.S. Commission on Fine Arts that advises the government on architecture and design in official Washington, was hit Thursday while crossing busy Connecticut Avenue. He died Saturday night at George Washington University Hospital.

Although witnesses said he had been badly injured and unresponsive at the scene, police issued him the ticket. His family found it with his belongings when they went to the hospital. "We knew it was a serious injury, but we didn't know it was life-threatening," police Capt. Willie Smith told the Washington Post. He said officers would not have issued the ticket "if we knew he was going to die."

The Last Word On "Christmas" In the Public Square

Check out this rant by Foamy the Squirrel regarding the annual lawsuits over Christmas in schools, etc. Use the link below and a hattip to Instapundit.

http://www.illwillpress.com/xmas.html

Book Ends - One Scuzzy Republican & One Slimy Democrat

I have provided the link below to a story in the San Diego Union Tribune about a Democratic congressman who has paid his wife more than $500,000 to serve as his campaign consultant (in the last ten years or so). The story sounds just like the one about slimeball Tom Delay who had his wife and daughter (?) on his campaign payroll. You gotta just love it- they all treat their government offices like it's the family business. Here is the link to the article.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20051204/news_1m4filner.html

Looks Like The Inquirer & Philadelphia Are Afraid To Say "Christmas"

In an editorial today, the Philly Inquirer salutes the "holiday" light display at Philadelphia's City Hall. Nowhere in the editorial was the word "Christmas".

I am not accusing the Inquirer of being politically correct; I can only assume the city decided to name the light display "Holiday" display. That's a little surprising for mayor John Street- I am not a fan but I did not think he would succumb to this type of PC overkill.

Here is the link to the editorial for your reading pleasure.

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/editorial/13308359.htm

Give Credit Where Credit Is Due

I saw a letter in the newspaper this week and the writer was complaining that when the NFL deems the Eagles may be "a playoff team", the Eagles quickly send the season ticket holders an invoice to pay the Eagles for the playoff tickets. But if the playoff game is never played cause the team does not make the playoffs, the Eagles don't send a refund- THEY GIVE A CREDIT TOWARDS NEXT YEARS SEASON TICKETS!!! Well that is pretty frigging stingy. The letter writer estimated the Eagles could make mucho dinero in interest on that money.

Compare that to the Phillies- I bought playoff tickets online this year and when the Phils did not make the playoffs, they credited my credit card for the full amount of $304 including the relatively measly $4.00 service fee. I was pleasantly surprised. So Kudos to the Phils and Jeers to the money-grubbing Eagles!

Tater Guns- Could Come In Handy For The Thanksgiving Foodfest

Great anecdote told by the departing Temple University football coach, Bobby Wallace. Temple as you may know is located in gritty north Philadelphia. When I went there in the 1970's, the neighborhood youths had deadly "zip guns". Sounds like they are now just a mischievous bunch and only shoot baked potatoes at people. Here is the quote from Wallace below:

"I had a kid standing right out here," Wallace said, gesturing beyond the sliding glass to the practice field, "got hit in the head with a baked potato. Big ol' defensive tackle standing right beside me with his helmet off. I never heard of a potato gun but evidently there's such a thing that will shoot a baked potato 100 yards. Hit him right in the head and he's on the ground. Didn't hurt him, thankfully, but things like that happen. Course, we called him 'Tater Head' the rest of the year."

Blogger's comment......I think those "Tater Guns" could come in handy on Thanksgiving......no more please pass the mashed potatoes, just ask your host to "aim that tater gun at my piehole and deposit one with a little butter and sour cream..thanks kindly".

I bet Ann Althouse would be hard pressed to find such great examples of harmless campus hijinks at her beloved but let's face it wimpy Madison, Wisconsin.

Are You Sick Of Our Congress?

Watched a little of last night's slugfest over John Murtha's Iraq pullout proposal and have to say I am sick of the people who get elected in this country (both major parties).

If I am not alone in that sentiment, the country will be very eager to embrace a John McCain For President candidacy in 2008. I don't agree with all of his stances but at least he represents a voice of reason and a more middle ground. Today we have a bunch of loons who think they can re-write or ignore history (the Dems) or get nothing done (the Reps) and both parties spend way too much of our money.

What Else Have They Lost?

The Philadelphia Medical Examiner's office has apologized because, for two years, it had a body in its freezers and neglected to match it up with a missing persons report filed within 2-3 months of the body being found.

The city's recently promoted Health Department chief, Joanne Godly, apologized for the oversight and estimated the medical examiner handles about 5,000 bodies per year. But, to her credit, she did say even one case like this is too many.

Now I am a numbers cruncher and that 5,000 estimate sounds awful high to me!! That would be 100 per week or about 14-15 per day!

There are about 16,000 deaths per year in Philadelphia and if Godley's estimate is accurate, that would mean almost 1 of every 3 dead bodies is handled by the medical examiner's office. Let's say there are 500 murders per year in the city, where are the other 4,500 bodies coming from??

The PA state health department website estimated there were 15,696 deaths in 2004 in its preliminary statistics. I have provided the link below to the story.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/13207437.htm

Put The Sports Editors & Reporters In Charge

Here is a thought....Many people feel the MSM is biased one way or the other. But, it is truly and actually biased way to the left. If you don't agree with that you are an idiot. And I know the Philly papers are biased so left but I still enjoy their sports pages. Why can't the MSM report the non-sports news and opinion just like they do the sports then everyone would be happy?? Except moonbat lefties that hate the fact that Fox News even has a single viewer.

Here's Is Some Proof For The Global Warming Skeptic In Me

FYI- I am not convinced the world is threatened by global warming nor that it is even occurring. That said, if you are open-minded, read the attached the article that discusses how the global warming concensus is not a true "scientific" concensus.

It's written by Debra Saunders of the San Francisco Chronicle; she is a great writer and a lonely voice of reason on that very liberal daily paper. I have provided the link below.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/Commentary/com-11_17_05_DS.html

Conditions Worsening In France

According to Jack Kelly over at Irish Pennants, the riots in France must be worsening. But the French president, Jack Chirac, has responded. Follow the link below for details:

http://www.irishpennants.com/archives/2005/11/the_rioting_in.php

If You Can Make A Donation To Local Blogger, Bill Roggio, Please Do!

A local blogger, Bill Roggio, is headed to Iraq for one month to travel with a Marine Battalion and report on what he sees. Donate some money to Bill, if you have the means, as the trip is costing more than $3,400. Use the link below.

http://billroggio.com/archives/2005/11/a_journey_to_ir.php#comments

If Mary Jo Kopechne Had A Brother

Lately when I see Senator Kennedy spouting off about some issue he finds lacking in high morals or superior ethics, I wonder what would have happened to the Senator (in 1969) if Mary Jo Kopechne had had a brother.

Kopechne, of course, is the young lady who drowned when the Senator drove off a bridge and left her in the submerged car and did not notify the cops for 12 hours or so (FYI- man landed on the moon on that same day in 1969- but I digress).

Kopechne was an only child from the suburbs of Philly and her rather elderly parents (I suspect) privately seethed at the Senator's criminal inaction and settled a lawsuit against him a couple years or so after the tragedy.

I believe if Kopechne had a brother, Kennedy would have been forced to pay a far higher price. I wonder if the Senator has ever considered that?

Damn! That's A Lot Of Lawyers Jumping Off The Gravy Train

Can this story be accurate? It claims 1,100 lawyers have left Saddam Hussein's defense team. Reportedly, these lawyers are a little scared they will be killed because people think they are the lowest of the low and pond-scum to boot. But 1,100 of them?? That is one big circus coming to the Court TV nearest you! Here's the link:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-11-13-saddam-lawyers_x.htm?csp=24

Ever Wonder Why Cost Of College is Skyrocketing? Here's A Clue

Good article in the San Francisco Chronicle reporting on the large bonuses paid to 8,500 employees at the University of California....

Paraphrasing here ......8,500 employees got a bonus of $20,000 or more and the cost of this "extra compensation" in one year was $599 Million!

And a recent study by an outside firm reported the university paid its employees 15% less than other schools BUT the study failed to take into account this "extra compensation" or even mention it in its report.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/11/13/MNGHFFNMAC1.DTL

Parental Notification- Seven Counties Determined Outcome

I was surprised that the majority of voters in California voted "No" on the proposition to require parental notification when a minor seeks an abortion. So, I looked at the voting results a little closer and found that just seven counties actually determined the outcome because voters in those counties overwhelmingly voted NO. Those counties are : Alameda, Los Angeles, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara & Sonoma.

The statewide (all 57 counties) margin of victory for the "No" vote on parental notification was 340,604.

The margin of victory for the "No" vote in the seven counties noted above was 647,828.

Here is the detail below which I gathered from the official California secretary of state's website:
Seven Counties:
Voted No 1,663,745
Voted Yes 1,015,917
Margin of Victory 647,828

Statewide:
Voted "No" 3,512,696
Voted "Yes" 3,172,092
Margin of Victory 340,604

I did the math for you - the other fifty counties (excluding the seven) voted "Yes" for parental notification by a margin of 307,224 votes!

I am gonna guess some parts of California would like to secede from the seven counties.

Lung Cancer vs. AIDS

I heard the other night (MSNBC- Situation Room-Nov,7,2005) that we spend about $1,700 per lung cancer death on research to cure lung cancer while we spend about $163,000 per AIDS death on research to cure AIDS. A fair minded person might say....."Whatsup with that?"

It's a really stark contrast if you assume both diseases are self-inflicted in some ways and to varying degrees depending on the individual case. I presume it is just evidence that the squeaky wheel gets the oil.

Good Phillies News & Bad Eagles News

Ryan Howard got the Rookie of the Year award and he deserved it. I am glad about that!

The wussy Eagles suspended one of their only players with a personality. Yes, I mean it. Owens and Dawkins are the best players on the team- bar none. And they are tough and remind me of the throwback players.... Bergey, Andre (Dirty) Waters, Wes Hopkins. It's the NFL (No Fun League) and I miss the old body bag teams.

I predict Andy Reid will be gone before the end of next season and, in his next job, he will have wizened-up (is that the correct spelling) and won't let his new bosses, the team owners, save millions by staying millions under the salary cap.... coaches tend to get smarter in their second job (just like the rest of us).

Election Endorsements By Bloggers Will Replace Newspaper Endorsements

"Nine out of ten bloggers aligned with the Right of Center Alliance (made that up) endorsed Candidate X".....someday you will see that in an election advertisement as opposed to today's "endorsed by the Atlantic City Press or The Double Bumfuck Daily News".

Am I right or what?? Newspapers are dying so the value of their endorsement will also decline and the candidates will seek the endorsement of other credible parties like blogs.

What Do You Call A Thousand Lawyers At The Bottom Of The Ocean?

A start.

That's the punchline to a lawyer joke. I bring it up because I read today that Jane Eisner, a Philadelphia Inquirer columnist, is taking the buyout offered to at least 100 newsroonm staffers. And she is leaving the paper. And that is what I call "a start" to maybe seeing the Inky's return to a decent paper.

Eisner has been a doctrinaire, and ultra-liberal from New York who tried to turn the Inquirer into a smalltown NY Times. At one time and for more than five years, she was the newspaper idiotor or opinion page idiotor. Now if they can only get the remaining big-time liberal weenie Chris Satullo to take the big-money offer from the Pew Foundation.

Sounds mean of me but it's true and reflects what I feel about their idiotorial and opinion departments.

That's One Way To Get A Call Back

You know when you are having a bad day and you do something you shouldn't have done. Well, I did that this morning. I had been trying for weeks to get the courtesy of reply to a business plan I submitted on behalf of a client.

This morning inn an email, I got a one sentence answer ("not a fit"). And here is a paraphrase of my response to the email :
"It was priceless to here back from your dickhead organization after numeous previous attempts (i.e 1-2 faxes, 4-5 phone calls and 3-4 emails)".

Believe it or not that got me a call from one of the main dickheads; after a heated exchange of several F-bombs and a threat to ban us from Wall Street, my world feels normal again. And believe me it felt good.

The Rising Cost Of Government Drones

Hat tip to Real Clear Politics for this article (below I provided the link for your reading pleasure). Here are some money quotes from the article:

"Wages average a hefty 37 percent higher in the public sector, but the differences in benefits are even more dramatic. Local governments pay 128 percent more, on average, than private employers to finance workers’ health-care benefits, and 162 percent more on retirement benefits. Although the private sector’s heavier concentration of low-wage service employment accounts for some of the wage and benefit gap, public-sector employees do better these days even when you compare similar jobs. Total compensation among professional workers in the public sector is on average 11 percent higher than for similar jobs in the private sector, for instance."

http://www.city-journal.org/html/15_4_taxpayers.html

Gas Price Is Almost Back To Normal

I noticed gas prices are back down to $2.40 and even below that at some stations here in Blogadelphia. But I am sure you noticed the media widely and loudly reporting this too!

Amtrak Is Expensive vs. Flying 3,000 miles onSouthwest

I bought a roundtrip ticket to Phoenix from Philadelphia only seven days before my trip. The airplane ticket cost $355. It got me thinking ...how much is a roundtrip ticket on Amtrak from New York to Washington, DC. I guessed it would cost at least $300 or almost as much as my plane ticket to go over 2,500 miles. [Update- I looked up the actual Amtrak ticket costs; a roundtrip on the Acela Express, admittedly a more costly fare, costs $320 for a Thursday-Sunday roundtrip. As they used to say "Go Greyhound". ]

How ridiculous is that? Explains why so few use Amtrak and it must be subsidized by the feds every year to the tune of $48 per passenger trip. I have posted about this waste before. And I am not against train service but someone has to figure out how to make it more economical and effective.

Bumped Into Sandra Day O'Connor Today

Am on a business trip in Phoenix and this afternoon, I am starving and can't find a store that sells pretzels, chocolate milk, etc -you know junk food. Of course, I am staying in Scottsdale, the priciest (?) area of Phoenix and that may help explain why no snack food stores but plenty of expensive and good restaurants.

So, finally I spot a store called Traders Joes which looks like it has what I need. [btw, Wawa could make a killing in Phoenix cause there is obviously no competition].

As I am walking into Trader's Joe, I see a familiar looking woman outside. I looked three times and conclude she is Sandra Day O'Connor. I say hello, tell her I am familiar with her remarkable story (first this and first that) and thank her for serving all of us. She and her husband are gracious and thank me in return.

I think later that there are almost no senators to whom I would have the same reaction! Cause most of them are very ordinary and small-minded people. What happened to people with great vision or dreams anyway- we sure don't elect many of those dreamers!

So, it was a good day for me.

Save The Caribou Eaters...Save The Caribou Eaters

Can't you just picture a bunch of eco-nuts standing just steps from a restaurant and chanting "Save The Caribou Eaters"? That's the science fiction movie-like scene I see when I read some idiotorials.

For instance, the Inquirer wrote an idiotorial bemoaning Congress' attempting to pass a law that would allow drilling for oil in in ANWAR. Some of the stuff the idiotors come up with to decry Congress' proposal is way too funny- I suspect sometimes they are making it up. Especially this part...and I quote from the idiotorial......" The native Gwich'in tribe will likely lose its centuries-old ability to survive on subsistence caribou hunting.

For your reading pleasure, here is the link to their whining editorial:
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/editorial/12980838.htm

I agree - Let's Do Away With Gerrymandering

Good Wash Post editorial re gerrymandering, which is big reason for low voter turnout.

In fact, I live in a town that was gerrymadered into a Congressional district (Curt Weldon's) that is about 20 miles away. That is almost impossible to pull off in a big metro area like Philly but they did it anyway. This is a big issue for Americans- it is critical that we take this kind of power away from the two doominant political parties!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/23/AR2005102300731.html

Al Jazeera Is Hiring

Check out this help-wanted ad in the NY Times on Sunday 10/23/05. Al Jazeera is looking to hire sports announcers for its Washington, DC office. I provided the link below (no fooling - I am not making this up). From a macro-economic viewpoint, this is good news for the economy (jobs being added) but probably bad news for CNN's ratings.

http://jobs.nytimes.com/texis/jobsearch/details.html?id=4351536c57c1420&q=al%20jazeera&pp=25&view=2&page=1

Tuition Free Yale

The NY Times had an article on Sunday 10/23/05 that was worth the price of the paper ($4.50 at my neighborhood convenience store). The article was by Ben Stein and he writes about Yale University's enormous wealth and asks if Yale still needs his annual donation (he is a Yale grad).

Stein says Yale has an endowment of $13 BILLION and suggests it does not need to charge tuition. I agree- the Ivy Schools lead the way in raising tuition and impact the average cost of a college education throughout the country. But, many of the Ivies have billion dollar endowments and they pay little or no income taxes and in some cases, no real estate taxes.

This is a pet peeve of mine: large non-profits in this country like Yale and The Pew Foundation have billions and they spend usually less than 4-5% of their endowment value per year. The law should require tax-free organizations spend at least 10-12% of their endowment value per year.

For your reading pleasure, here is the link to the NY Times article.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/23/business/yourmoney/23every.html

Lindenwood University????

I saw this blurb in Parade Magazine this weekend about some cable show called "Lingo"? The blurb announced the show had hired a new assistant (Shandi Finnessey) to the show's host. And went to say the lovely Finnessey was a former Miss USA aand graduate of Lindenwood University (where's that?).

I have never heard of this college but after looking at the picture of Finnesey, I suspect the admissions department at Lindenwood University could see a spike up in applications from male students.

For your reading pleasure, I included a link to a story about the lovely Miss Finnesey.

http://abilitymagazine.com/Shandi_Finnessey.html

Fitzgerald's Website

The special prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, in the Plamegate case has established a website. It appears the website will contain info about the case, its originalk mandate, etc.

I suspect the website was established primarily because there will be few if any indictments and Fitzgerald figures the website can be used to answer (one time) the many, many questions the press will pose.

What is your opinion for the website?

Lastly, Fitzgerald's grand jury term ends on 10/28. Isn't it curious that his work is wrapping up at the same time? How did they know months ago that the work would take this long?? Probably because of that old saw that "a job takes as long as the time allotted to it". You agree?

Philly Pols Can Be Bought in Five Below

"Five Below" refers to a new "dollar store" type chain that just opened. Everything it sells is priced for $5 or less....hence "Five Below"

Guess you saw the news where a Philly City Councilman went up to the top of the tower at City Hall and his freinds and coleagues were scared he was going to do a swan dive out a window.

The councilman is under investigation for a faily small bribe (less than $20,000) and rumor is he will be indicted soon. The bigger story is "why did they stop him?" as a friend of mine asked.

Don't get the wrong idea- I am not advocating suicide for any individual! But this guy epitomizes the type of politician that Phily tends to produce: mediocre, small-minded, greedy, dumb and arrogant. If they made a movie about Philly councilmen, the camera would follow him from restaurant to bar as he got free food and drinks and took free vacations at the Jersey Shore in return for steering million dollar contracts to the briber. Willy Sutton would have asked why he sold himself so cheap!! So, the councilman's demise would have been poignant from that standpoint. BUT I really don't want this or any individual to do that.

It was also interesting that Mayor Street, Police Commissioner Johnson and Congressman Brady were among those who talked him down. Because, Street and Johnson know the most about the federal wiretaps found in Street's office and Brady was AWOL from Congress yesterday (as far as I know, Congress was in session while Brady was in Philly).

City Building Wifi Service Is Like Comcast Monopoly On Cable Service

The Inquirer has a good article asking about the pitfalls (primarily financial losses for the city) of Philadelphia building its own WIFI network for wireless internet access for all or most residents.
As I said before on this blog, I am against this type of public venture. It will suck and provide inferior service and quality......and as one person in the article said... "the city can't keep the streets clean..how can they do this?" (I am loosely paraphrasing this very astute resident).

BUT, the article included an email from a Comcast biggie (David Cohen who is just about Governor Ed Rendell's best friend- Cohen was Philadelphia Managing Director when Rendell was Mayor).

Here are some pertinent thoughts and money quotes from the article...... The notion of city support, however, worries critics such as Michael J. Balhoff, a consultant and the author of a recent industry-sponsored study that takes a dim view of municipal Wi-Fi. In an interview, Balhoff warned that a perception of city support for one firm could discourage others from bringing competing Internet systems to Philadelphia - leaving residents with fewer choices, worse technology, and higher bills.

That critique has also come from Philadelphia-based cable giant Comcast, whose politically influential executive vice president, David L. Cohen, said in an e-mail yesterday: "We continue to believe that it is inappropriate to use public money to provide service or to indirectly subsidize select providers."

Blogitorial comment..so what Cohen is worrying about is there will be a lack of competition WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT PHILADELPHIANS ARE FACED WITH SINCE COMCAST BOUGHT OUT MOST OF THE AREA'S CABLE PROVIDERS. In effect, Comcast and Cohen are getting a dose of their own medicine but I predict Comcast will one day "buy out" the city's WIFI network and make another bazillion dollars so I won't shed any tears for them today.

College Tuition

The Inky story (link below) suggests that the gap between the cost of college tuition and government aid is growing primarily because government aid is decreasing. I disagree because the story states tuitions have increased by and average of 10% in 2003 and more than 7% in 2004.

The article also speaks to the shift by some colleges to "merit aid" versus "need -based" aid. The president of the Univ of Penn, Amy Guttman, does some handwringing about this trend. But two quotes from the article by Guttman seem to be contradictory. See for yourself as I am placing the quotes below with my blogitorial comments.

Quote #1 "We all should be focusing on need-based financial aid, rather than on what is called merit...," Gutmann said yesterday. "Merit-based aid overwhelmingly goes to high-income students who can afford our institutions. But institutions are competing for them to raise their average SAT scores." Gutmann said the recent trend among colleges to offer more merit grants to top students is widening the gap between wealthy and low-income students. "Even if tuition rates were frozen, a college education simply would be out of reach for low-income and most middle-income families... were it not for need-based financial aid," she said. She is urging flagship public universities and Ivy League colleges to turn away from merit grants and expand the aid for low-income and middle-income students. Gutmann said Penn awards grants based only on family income.

Quote # 2 "If we want to be increasingly competitive as a society, we have to give the educational opportunities to our best and brightest students," she said. "It makes good competitive sense, as well as being on the side of justice."

Blogitorial comment....so in Quote #1 - Guttman says let's focus on need not merit. Then in Quote # 2- Guttman says the aid should go the best and the brightest. I say Guttman can't have it both ways. And I assume Guttman is really saying she wants the aid to go to the best and the brightest UNLESS they are well off. Same old same old social engineering! Lastly, it could be enlightening if the Inquirer would ask Guttman why the cost of college is increasing by 7-10% per year.

For your reading pleasure, below is the link to the actual story.

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/living/education/12938622.htm

If You Like To Laugh, You May Enjoy Scrappleface

Follow the link below to see Scott Ott's (Scrappleface) take on Harriet Miers' answers to the Senate Judiciary questionnaire.

http://www.scrappleface.com/

Good Movie Review -The Defiance, Ohio Jingle Winner

The Daliy News had a review on 10/14/05 of a new movie about a housewife and mother of ten children who helped support her family by winning a bunch of writing and jingle contests. Gary Thompson, the DN movie reviewer, is always pretty astute and a very good reviewer. He likes the movie a lot.

But I was struck by some of the comments by the movie's director..... Check them out for yourself. She struggled with making the movie upbeat because she always viewed the 1950's as some sort of horrible era where people were only interested in accumulating stuff. What an asshat she must be! In the time, more people went to college (GI Bill, etc) and bought homes than ever before. Where do they get this hate-America worldview? It's hard to fathom. Well that's my two cents ... here are the quotes that got me

"Before I made this film I was very dismissive of the 1950s as a very superficial era in which consumerism basically came into its glory. I always thought, for instance, that it was the era that destroyed American nutrition, with fish sticks and TV dinners and instant pudding and Jell-O," Anderson said. "But the more I studied Evelyn and the more I dropped into her world, the more I realized that housewives needed and wanted these inventions because the last thing Evelyn wanted to do was to chop fresh garlic and make a reduction. She had 10 kids.

"I can make a fabulous meal, because I have the free time, I have one kid, and I'm privileged. Evelyn was not. She had to cook for 10, and clean house. It was never-ending. To her, a washer/dryer wasn't a status symbol, it was a labor-saving device. You can call that a superficial desire, but this woman was boiling clothes on a stove."

Anderson said she drew on her own maturity and experience as a mother to understand Ryan.
"I couldn't have made this film in my 20s and 30s, because I wouldn't have understood that raising a child is as vital a role as having a career," said Anderson, sounding a bit like a politician, but you have to be in Hollywood, which is ever mindful of constituency.

That said, the character's unshakably positive attitude was itself a challenge, since it's so unfashionable these days. "Don't we equate optimism with stupidity? Unfortunately I think we do. So I had another problem - how do I make a hip, edgy film about an optimist?" she said.

I tried to provide the link to the movie review but had some technical difficulties for some reason. If you want, go to Philly dot com for the Daily News site and type in "prize winner" to pull up Thompson's review.

Inquirer Columnist Gets Linked to Instapundit

I saw a column by regular Philadelphia Inquirer columnist, Jane Eisner, was picked up and linked on Instapundit because Eisner wrote about the effect of the blogosphere in the "marketplace of ideas" [ which, by the way, Al Bore believes has disappeared].

I wonder if Eisner knows her column probably got way more eyeballs via Instapundit than she gets in the Inquirer. That's just my guess as her column is generally very doctrinaire (think of a younger and not yet sour and overwrought Eleanor Clift) so I suspect many Inky readers just pass right over her work.

Inn any event, here is the link to the column. Enjoy!

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/columnists/jane_eisner/12767499.htm

Delaware Blogger Gets Mention in Associated Press Story??

The AP wrote a story about a new TV show , "Commander in Chief". The story mocked some who theorize the show is actually a promo for a woman president (aka Hillary). BUT the local angle to the AP story is that it used a quote from a blogger called "The Colossus" and that blogger (I am not certain) may be from the Delaware Valley and toiling away on a blog named the Colossus of Rhodey.

For your reading pleasure I have supplied the story quote and a link below to the AP story via the Philly Inquirer. Story quote re The Colossus...."And the blogger Colossus pronounced the show "a nefarious plot to advance the notion of a Hillary Clinton presidency."

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/entertainment/television/12877750.htm

Good Article About Liberals Written By Two Mainstream & Connected Democrats

Here are some interesting soundbites from a Michael Barone column in a magazine. Barone was discussing with two savvy Democratic operatives just where Dems continue to go wrong. I provided some soundbites below AND the link if you want to read the whole article.

Soundbites...."Galston and Kamarck seem to believe that the Democrats' chief problem is that too large a part of their constituency, and their primary electorate, is made up of liberals who reject values and positions held by large majorities of Americans…….
Along a number of dimensions, liberals differ not only from other Democrats but from the country as a whole. Not only are they younger, better educated, and more prosperous; they are less likely ever to have been married or to have children in their home. They are more likely to be secular in their orientation, only half as likely as other Americans to have attended religious services weekly, and only one third as likely to have participated in Bible study or prayer groups; 61 percent of liberals oppose displaying the Ten Commandments, versus only 22 percent of all Americans. A remarkable 80 percent of liberals favor gay marriage; less than one third of their fellow Americans agree."

"In the area of defense and foreign policy, 67 percent of liberals believe that the pre-emptive use of military force is rarely or ever justified, 65 percent favor reducing the federal budget to cut the deficit; again, only 35 percent of the electorate would go along with them. Liberals are only half as likely to be military veterans as are Americans as a whole. [Note: Galston, as well as being a political science Ph.D. who uses his own translations of ancient Greek, served in the Marine Corps.] Only two fifths report that they regularly display the U.S. flag, versus two thirds of their fellow citizens." ..end of Soundbites.

Below is the link to the article:

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/opinion/baroneblog/columns/barone_051012_4.htm

Read This About The Oklahoma College Student Who Blew Himself Up

Interesting story and little publicized story about an O.U. student who blew himself up a couple weeks ago. Why has the MSM done so little news coverage?

Suggest you read the whole article...especially if you are a conspiracy buffs. For your reading pleasure, I have provided the link below via Real Clear Politics.

http://realclearpolitics.com/Commentary/com-10_12_05_MD.html

"School's Wishes Override Parents' Wishes"

Read the John Leo column below. It's about the parents of a Massachusetts kindergarten student and what happened when they expressed displeasure with their son's school when it gave him and his classmates a "diversity book bag". Included in the bookbag was a book called "Who's In A Family" that promotes acceptance of gay marriage. Yes, I typed the foregoing paragraph accurately....a book bag given to kindergarten students contained a book that promoted gay marriage.

For your reading pleasure, here is the link to the story. And FYI, credit goes to The Repository where I first saw this story in the old media [while reading The Repository] when I was on a business trip in Canton, Ohio.

http://www.uexpress.com/johnleo/

Poor Al Gore Must Be Off His Meds Again

Here is the latest rant from the most overrated person in the most useless job (vice-president) in the country's history. I will dissect as much of his speech as I can stomach.

Millions May Die But On the Bright Side, That Could Slow Down Global Warming

A NY Times story on October 8th reported millions could die from an Avian Flu outbreak.

But if one were to look at the bright side, the large decrease in population could slow down global warming (I presume). That means all the whacko environmentalists would have to muffle their collective cheers.

You may view my outlook as a warped way to look at this type of horrible pandemic, but I say to all you tree huggers out there (and I am not a tree hugger - I believe nature will do just fine without our puny feel-good help) ......get your good news anyway you can. AND (cross your little green fingers), maybe you'll get a dastardly little bonus and Bush, himself- the Greatest Nightmare To Ever Befall You Greens (as I suspect you all believe), just might fall victim to the Avian Flu.

Locks Are Made For Honest People

Here is a story from Time reporting that Karen Hughes made $450,000 in speaking fees during her 1-2 years (if that long) hiatus from govenment employ. Nothing unethical about this (I believe) but it has to make you wonder about the enormous fees these career policy wonks can earn as they jump back and forth from the public to the private sector.

I seem to recall hearing Rahm Emanual (former top aide to President Clinton and current Illinois congressman) made about $10 Million in less than two years (the time between his job with Clinton and his swearing in as a congressman).

These examples show why those ethics laws don't work. Many news outlets espouse stronger ethics laws but you can't train a cockroach to eat just the food you want it to eat. Let's face it, the two dominant polictical parties are just too corrupt- they thrive on legal and illegal payola and need to be gutted by a "clean sweep" type third party that will lead a drive to "unelect" all incumbents and thus eviscerate the political power of the Dems and the Republicans!

And as I heard a long time ago......locks are made for honest people. For your reading pleasure, here is the link to the story about Karen Hughes' speaking fees. BTW, do you think Time wrote a similar story about Rahm Emanuel's private sector earnings?

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1114402,00.html

Agony Of A Phillies Fan

The Phils missed the playoffs by a game or two. If the Astros had lost today, I had 12 tickets to the playoff game tomorrow. That would have been fun with I think Padilla pitching for the Phils and their hot bats. But the Astros won- beat the Cubs with 2-3 unreaned runs in the th inning.

Here is my autopsy of the Phils. For most of the season, the regular catcher and the regular 3rd baseman were like anchors slowing a boat down. Those two guys are over the hill. The Phils have a superb nucleus- I define that as 4-5 core everyday players....Abreau, Utley, Rollins, Burrell, Thome or Howard. That's how the Atlanta Braves have won 14 straight division titles- the Braves always have a core of 4-5 everyday players and surround that core with fundamentally solid young and role players. But they don't tolerate players that are on their way down (Bell) or just plain stupid (Lieberthal).

That's where the Phils went wrong - I would have cut Lieberthal 4-5 months ago regardless of how much I owed him. And, most fans don't know this, he is the worst catcher in baseball at calling pitches and managing pitchers!

An MSM "Parent" Is Usually Someone With A Vested ("Activist") Interest

The Philly Daily News wrote a story on 10/1/05 that ripped Bill Bennett for the comment he made on his radio program this week. The Daily News story, written by Mensah Dean, claimed to have interviewed regular parents of Philly public school students to see what these "parents" thought about Bennett and a contract his company (K12) holds to provide consulting services to their school district.

One "parent" they quoted was named Helen Gym and my antenna went up instantly. Here is the exact quote from the story....."I find it hard to see any explanation for why they're here in Philadelphia educating many of the black children Mr. Bennett clearly finds it provocative to call expendable," said Helen Gym, a mother of a district third-grader.

Wait a minute my memory bank said....Wasn't she the leader of the small Chinatown group that kept the Phillies stadium out of center city? I am still steamed about that - there were less than 10,000 people in Chinatown and maybe 2,000 were papered taxpayers but the city caved in (Rendell and Street) to them and put the stadium in south philly. Actually, I suspect that's where Rendell always wanted it as he sucks up to Comcast bigtime! And yes, this issue is one of my all time pet peeves- it showed me Philly will never be a first class town if the current cockroaches stay in power (and they are well represented in BOTH parties so don't get the wrong idea).

But I digress...here is what I found about that "parent" Helen Gym when I googled her name- Helen Gym: Coalition To Save Philadelphia Schools, Philadelphians United to Support Public Schools, Stadium Out Of Chinatown Coalition, and Asian Pacific America Studies Consultant. Think I should google the other parent named in the Daily News story? Nah, maybe later I have had enough fun for one day. And I bet the Inquirer and Daily News still wonders why their credibility is sinking and circulation is down. They dis-respect their readers when they print crap like this (and that's the first time I ever used the word "dis-respect" but it fits).

For your reading pleasure, I have provided the link below:

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/local/12790202.htm

Funny Stuff over Iowa Hawk

Saw this at Iowa Hawk. He wrote a truly funny and sarcastic response to the Internet-driven campaign to cut government pork spending.

Recommend you read at least half of it.

http://iowahawk.typepad.com/iowahawk/2005/09/rainforest_iowa.html

Media Exaggerations During Katrina Coverage

I have read several articles that recount the false stories and exaggerated bad news in the week after Katrina. Now, some are asking how the media got it so wrong especially about the alleged murders and deaths at the Superdome.

Which makes me ask.."what was Brian Williams of NBC reporting?" casue I saw him on Comedy Central the other night and I swear Williams claimed he was inside the Superdome for 3-4 days. If I heard him correctly, what did he witness and did it conflict with what his colleagues were reporting?

Good Column On Where Bush Is Going Wrong

I am a conservative but was once a liberal Dem. That said, I have never cared for folks like Tom Delay. Regardless of his politics, he comes off as an arrogant and unlikeable creep.

When I look at Delay I see that little schmuck who plays the tough guy role in the all the Mafia movies... what's his name Joe Pesci (had to look it up) from Goodfellas. You gotta admit, in the right light, Delay and Pesci could be one of those "separated at birth" or "never seen in the same room" items as they look alike. And I would bet you neither of them are real life tough guys at all.

To get back to my post title, I believe Bush and the republicans have done nothing to rein in government spending which is a pet peeve of mine. So suggest you read the column below. It reflects where Bush et al is wrong. I got wind of this column on Instapundit, I think. For your reading pleasure, I have provided the link below.

http://www.metropulse.com/articles/2005/15_39/frank_talk.shtml

Illustrious Gathering Of (MOSTLY WHITE) Media Elites

Below is how Andy Rooney described the celebrity crowd at Peter Jennings' funeral. ..."It was the most illustrious gathering of news people that has ever taken place. A terrorist attack on Carnegie Hall that day would have wiped out broadcast news. " A more accurate statement would have been the title to this post.

Rooney showed film footage of the media stars who attended and when you read the transcript and count the 35 names he drops, you have to notice the absence of diversity among the almost pure-white list. Of the 35 MEDIA members Rooney mentions, there was BUT ONE BLACK NAME (Ed Bradley) and ONE ASIAN (Connie Chung).

That's pretty amazing even for the MSM. And please note Rooney did mention Al Sharpton's as having attending but I did not count him as a media elite.

A Leader In The Hate America Crowd

Wacthed some of Bill Maher's HBO show on Friday night...don't know why I did that. Maher had three Brit guests on and tried his damnest to get them to take the bait to slam America. To their credit, only one even nibbled ever so slightly on the edge of his bait.

Here is the telling quote from Maher that realy got me steamed. Maher said "we [Americans] are terrorists......purposefully kill civilians ....like we did in Hiroshima". Can Maher be more wrong than that??? The use of atomic weapons ended the war and saved many, many American soldiers' lives by getting the Japanese to surrender. That is the conventional wisdom.

And the bonus for watching the program was hearing Andrea Mitchell (remote guest) assign blame to the Clinton gang for ignoring Bin Laden and the 1993 WTC bombing!! Maher was shocked that this MSM star would deviate so far fromm the company line of worshipping Clinton. Maher responded that Mitchell was wrong because the Clinton admin was holding meetings almost every day on Bin Laden. Blogger's note- and , of course, any of us who have worked in large organizations knows how useful and productive those long meetings can be!

One Of Every Six Employee Loses Job

That is what the Philadelphia Inquirer is doing to its newsroom staff. The story actually said 16% will be offered buyouts or layoffs. But my title is more impactful and informative.... 1 of every 6 newsroom employees is losing or will give up their job!

That's almost unbelievable. And certainly indicative of the damage being wreaked on the MSM by the internet and bloggers and other forms of information sharing. Can it be long before the national and local TV news departments announce the same types of job cuts?

This is also a result of MSM's stubborness. By refusing to broaden their editorial and OPED pages so the average message was less strident and liberal, they have cost themselves readers, advertisers and revenue. Now, they and their employees are paying a steep price.

For your reading pleasure, I have provided the link below to the Inquirer announcement.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/business/12698323.htm

Hitting Em Again

Hurrican Rita is aiming for Houston where many of the New Orleans victims have fled. It seems almost surreal if those poor people get hit again.

Reminds me of the story they told about the old Phillie, Richie Ashburn. He was well known for his ability to continually foul off pitches so he could wait for a pitch he liked. Once, he fouled one into the stands and it injured a lady who was quickly carried off on a stretcher. And you guessed it, Ashburn promptly fouled another pitch which hit the same lady as she lay in the stretcher.

Hugh Hewitt Makes A Good Point

From Hugh Hewitt's Blog: " Trailer Park Nightmares
FEMA has ordered 300,000 RVs and trailers for the Katrina victims. Really. At a cost of $5 billion. That's about $17,000 per unit, which baffles me given not only the acquisition costs involved, but also the staging and construction that has to accompany the effort."

"Rick from StonesCryOut was actually one of the drafters of this part of FEMA's catastrophic response plan during the "Hurrican Pam" exercise last year. I asked Rick on air today what the costs of this plan were, and he told me that planners in the exercise had been told to disregard cost. Not a surprise, but what a nightmare this is."

"Look: Give every family a check. A good sized check. Tell them that's their relief payment and to use it wisely. Match them with churches/not-for-profits around the country and ship them out. Creating trailer parks for this many people is just a terrible idea."

Blogger's comment: Let's agree it's difficult to figure out how to handle this but I tend to agree with the idea of direct benefits ("give every family a check"). What the hell do you do with the 300,000 RV's in a year or so. Jeez, they will end up being abandoned on roads in probably every state of the country.

Tough To Do

Roger Clemens, the great baseball pitcher, pitched and won a game last night after his mother died earlier in the day. That's gotta be tough to do. My brother did something similar once- he coached his Pop Warner football team on a Sunday afternoon just hours after our mother had passed away. That too was tough to do. And you have to respect them both for their strength.

Below is the link to the Clemens article for your reading pleasure.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/
chi-0509150258sep15,1,1079332.story?coll=chi-sportsnew-hed

Another View Of Katrina

Here is an interesting take on the Katrina disaster from Pat Buchanan. And I agree with him.

Money Quote from a Pat Buchanan column:

"No sooner had Katrina passed by and the 17th Street levee broke than hundreds of young men who should have taken charge in helping the aged, the sick and the women with babies to safety took to the streets to shoot, loot and rape. The New Orleans police, their numbers cut by deserters who left their posts to look after their families, engaged in running gun battles all day long to stay alive and protect people.

It was the character and conduct of its people that makes the New Orleans disaster unique. After a hurricane, people's needs are simple: food, water, shelter, medical attention. But they can be hard to meet. People buried in rubble or hiding in attics of flooded homes are tough to get to. But, even with the incompetence of the mayor and governor, and the torpor of federal officials, this was possible.

Coast Guard helicopters were operating Tuesday. There were roads open into the city for SUVs, buses and trucks. While New Orleans was flooded, the water was stagnant. People walked through to the convention center and Superdome. The flimsiest boat could navigate.

Even if government dithered for days -- what else is new -- this does not explain the failure of the people themselves. "

You Don't Say?

Here is a tidbit from a Nawlins businessman who installs and repairs glass windows. He thinks it's about the most work hhe ever had. Guess Category Four hurricanes will do that for you buddy!

Among the businessmen allowed back was Terry Cockerham, owner of Service Glass, which installs windows at businesses downtown. He has been working out of his house because his business was destroyed by looters and flooding.

"This is about the most work I've ever had," he said. "We'll work seven days a week until we get this job finished. I don't want to get rich. I just want to get everything back right."

Jack Kelly Tells It Like It Is

Money Quote From Jack Kelly's column today in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette:

Journalists complain that it took a whole week to do this. A former Air Force logistics officer had some words of advice for us in the Fourth Estate on his blog, Moltenthought:
"We do not yet have teleporter or replicator technology like you saw on 'Star Trek' in college between hookah hits and waiting to pick up your worthless communications degree while the grown-ups actually engaged in the recovery effort were studying engineering.
"The United States military can wipe out the Taliban and the Iraqi Republican Guard far more swiftly than they can bring 3 million Swanson dinners to an underwater city through an area the size of Great Britain which has no power, no working ports or airports, and a devastated and impassable road network.
"You cannot speed recovery and relief efforts up by prepositioning assets (in the affected areas) since the assets are endangered by the very storm which destroyed the region.
"No amount of yelling, crying and mustering of moral indignation will change any of the facts above."
"You cannot just snap your fingers and make the military appear somewhere," van Steenwyk said.

Read the whole column. Link provided below:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05254/568876.stm

Tax Cuts Did Not Cause The Floods

No matter what your brainwashed little liberal head tells you, the Bush tax cuts did not cause the flood. Cause you have to then assume this EXTRA TAX REVENUE would have been miraculously spent on actually fixing the levees and having a doable emergency plan for Nawlins. So don't believe it even when the idiots at the Inquirer Editorial Board tell you this:

Inquirer idiotorial...."But a focus on individual screwups risks obscuring a bigger issue. The key flaw was not people bungling a good plan. The problem was the feeble plan itself, based on a notion of federal obligations so emaciated that it borders on the suicidal."

Blogger's note....oh that poor federal budget so broke it's sad!!! How can one not weep at the sign of bureacrats without bundles of our cash to waste!!

And I give you more evidence from that evil conservative, Charles Krauthammer. He wrote in a column in th eWashington Post on 9/09/05:

"As for the Bush tax cuts, administration budget requests for New Orleans flood control during the five Bush years exceed those of the five preceding Clinton years. The notion that the allegedly missing revenue would have been spent wisely by Congress, targeted precisely to the levees of New Orleans, and that the reconstruction would have been completed in time, is a threefold fallacy." "The argument ends when you realize that, as The Post noted, "the levees that failed were already completed projects.""

The Irish Can Write

Read the article below from an Irish writer in an Irish paper.

It reminded me that the Irish are great at writing (as well as drinking of course). Or maybe I should say the Irish are great at regularly trying to be good at drinking.

NB- I found this post via Instapundit, one of my favorite blogs.

http://www.sluggerotoole.com/archives/2005/09/ill_wind_may_no.php

The Question Is Where The Hell Did They Get Tiger Urine??

A restaurant in some crazy country was accused of serving donkey meat cooked in tiger urine when its menu advertised the entree as tiger meat. That's disgusting of course but where the hell did they get that tiger urine? Can't just call the local restaurant supply house and ask them to send over a case of Tiger Sauce, can you?

For your reading pleasure, I have provied the link below:

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/12591043.htm

A Psychiatrist Armed With A Glock 9 & Hollow Point Bullets

Watching Anderson Cooper last night on CNN and I think he has been out in the elements a bit too long. Here is what he reported as the typical chaos in Nawlins. And I am paraphrasing what Cooper said below:

Cooper ...."I ran into a psychiatrist who came to Nawlins just to help. He brought a bag of his own medicine and his own Glock 9 (an automatic handgun) loaded with hollow point bullets. The psychiatrist was frustrated because there was no one here to help gather patients, etc. That's the problem - the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing".

Jeez I agree with Cooper don't you? Just utter chaos and no one there to treat the truly needy like the cuckoo and armed psychiatrist Cooper thinks is perfectly normal.

UPDATE- HERE IS THE ACTUAL TRANSCRIPT FROM CNN'S COOPER....."And we're hearing that every day from all the first-responders that I talked to privately. They don't want to say it on camera because they don't want to get in trouble. These are small-town guys who don't want to make waves. But they are incredibly frustrated. I talked to a young doctor, a psychiatrist, who came here on his own with a backpack full of some medicine and a Glock with hollow-point bullets strapped to his waist. He wasn't ordered here. He just came here because there was a need. And he looked around. He was like, where is everybody else? Where are the medical professionals that are desperately needed? And this guy was working, helping New Orleans police officers, who didn't really have any medical care for themselves. " END QUOTE

Jokes Re Katrina

Joke #1
Hugo Chavez claims responsibility for Katrina….."...That will teach that Pat Robertson guy and his Bible Belt whackos who they're fucking with," says Venezuelan strongman.

Joke# 2
The warranty on Louisiana purchase expired in 2003. France breathes sigh of relief while U.S. kicks self for not buying "premium extended warranty plan".

Tales From Katrina

Tale # 1- A "civil rights activist" on Arianna Huffington's celebrity blog even floated the rumor that the starving folks abandoned in New Orleans had been forced to eat their dead -- after only four days. New Orleans has a reputation for its unusual cuisine, but this tale was so tall that nobody paid it much attention. Neither did anyone tell the tale-bearer to put a dirty sock in it.

Tale #2 - Oh and remember the reported rapes at the Superdome. Can't find anyone including a victim or a policeman who will substantiate this tale. So, as Rosanna Rosannadana might have said ..."never mind".

The Guvmint We Deserve

CHOICES OUR GUVMINT MAKES FOR US EVERY DAY

In some quarters, the hurricane Katrina disaster has evolved into a debate over whether the Bush tax cuts crippled the country’s ability to fund FEMA and shore up the levees in New Orleans. One side believes the guvmint (in honor of our fellow Americans suffering on the Gulf Coast, I am using the pronunciation “guvmint”) was shortchanged by the tax cuts and had to cut essential programs and the other side believes it has plenty but wastes too much of what it has.

I have listed below some state, local and national funding questions our guvmint has faced over the years. Would you have answered the funding questions the same way as our guvmint officials did?

Do we spend $500 Million or more to upgrade the levees protecting the 500,000 residents of New Orleans so the levees will withstand a Category Four hurricane? Most experts say there is only one chance in two hundred (or less than 1%) that a Category Four hurricane will occur.

Do we spend $88 Million for nostalgia/ambience reasons to refurbish 18 trolleys and put them back in service to replace the perfectly good buses on the Route 15 mass transit line that serves Girard Avenue in Philadelphia? You know, I rode the Route 15 trolley almost every school day from 1966-1970 and darned if I saw any ambience back then- the trolleys were just real slow. Is slow another word for ambience?

Do we spend $625 Million for a state economic development fund called Growing Greener whose objective is to promote so-called smart growth and subsidize environmentally-correct remediation and re-development of the core areas of Pennsylvania’s decaying small towns? Arithmetic whizzes say this program costs $50 to every man, woman and child in the state. That does not include interest expenses nor law firm fees on the bond issue.

Do we spend approximately $30 Million a year to pay the salaries and perks for 253 Pennsylvania state legislators? That figure includes the recent 17% pay raise this fine group recently approved for itself at the end of a very long workday. And FYI, the state of Pennsylvania has just 20 members (two senators and 18 representatives) in the US Congress.

Do we spend $1.2 Billion per year to subsidize Amtrak’s operations? Amtrak carries approximately 25 million passengers so the annual subsidy works out to $48 per passenger. Or should we just shut down Amtrak and leave a bunch of hideously-painted hybrid cars at each station so train buffs can carpool between stations. To curb misuse, we could ask the Pentagon to rig the hybrids to automatically self-destruct if anyone deviates too far from the designated train route. FYI- $1.2 Billion would pay for 48,000 well-appointed hybrid cars. The bad news is I am not sure what the Pentagon would charge to arm each car to self-destruct. The good news is the cost of GPS systems is falling fast.

Do we spend $250 Million to help pay for a football stadium where only 10-11 games are played a year? Recent estimates place the value of the Philadelphia NFL franchise at about $1 Billion not including the stadium. That is second only to the value of the Washington Redskins. I am confident many of you are thrilled to have helped the Eagles reach this lofty and valuable perch!

Do we spend $250 Million to help pay for a baseball stadium which will hold 81 games a year? Most urban planners agree investments in baseball stadiums provide the taxpayer with a good payback since it generally revives a city’s downtown area. Philadelphia has shown to be the exception to that rule. Several unnamed experts have gone out on a limb to suggest it may be due to the fact the Phillies stadium was built several miles from the downtown area.

Do we give away millions in stadium parking lot revenues to the owner of the area’s NBA/ NHL franchise because he never fails to remind us he paid for his own stadium (but neglects to mention we gave him the land for almost nothing)?

Do we establish a Levee Committee or Board, whose reason de’etre is to manage the New Orleans levees, and expand its authority and purview to include the establishment and oversight of riverboat gambling and casinos?

Do we establish a Delaware River Port Authority, whose reason de’etre is to manage the bridges connecting the city of Philadelphia to New Jersey, and allow it to expand its authority and purview to include many types of large economic development grants and multi-million dollar donations using the funds provided from bridge toll receipts?

The above are real examples of the choices our guvmint made on our behalf. A fair person may conclude our guvmint has plenty of money to devote to essential programs. But as some are so fond of saying …”we only get the guvmint we deserve”.

Prescient Flood Story Posted On A Delaware Blog

The website link below has an excellent story written a year ago in National Geographic magazine. The story sounds like it could have been written AFTER the levee broke.

http://colossus.mu.nu/archives/116047.php

Baldilocks (the blog) Offers Her Insights

Below is a post from a blogger named Baldilocks. She always makes a lot of sense.

Baldilocks quote..."I have no pertinent commentary about the unsurprising racial angle that some are bringing into the mix of toxic water, dead bodies and thousands of homeless people, except to say this: there were two things that disturbed me nearly as much as the death, destruction and lawlessness. As a matter of fact, one could say that those two things were by-products of the lawlessness. "...."I’m sure that I’m not the only one who noticed how many husband-less women and girls there were who had babies and children along with them. And I’m betting that I’m not the only one who cringed as more than one man near my dad’s age wailed plaintively about why no one was doing anything for him them."......"Back when I was growing up, real men took charge and made decisions. They protected women and children--especially their own children--and got them out of harm’s way; out of the way of things like hurricanes, especially when they had days of advance warning. And if they made the wrong decision, they tried to make things right and/or took the consequences. Like young Jabbar Gibson. "....."They didn’t expect someone else to be the protector—be the man—and then whine about how the substitute man wasn’t being the substitute man fast enough."...."No one should wonder that gangs of thieves, terrorists, rapists and murderers plagued the refugees. Such are the rotten fruit of fatherless societies--societies with a dearth of real men."

Dumb Media Comments

Friday Sept 2nd about 730AM . I was watching either CNN or MSNBC and the talking head is trying to berate FEMA's chief and she says "it's been almost a week since the hurricane". Fortunately, I was not dressed yet so was able to use my toes to check her math... let's see the hurricane was Monday (that's less than four full days ago) and the levee broke on Tuesday (that's less than three full days ago) . So someone send those networks a calendar or provide a remedial course in how many days in a week, month, years etc.

Saturday Sept 3rd- watching CNN in the erly evening. A military physician is being interviewed and he reports they examined about 6-7,000 people in the last 48 hours. Thr CNN talking head (something Jones) asks " what was the general condition of those you examined?" Great question right but I made that up. Jones didn't really think to ask that.

Instead, the talking head had his focus on what or who screwed up so he asked the doctor what he wished he had (obviously hoping the doctor said more troops or supplies, etc.). The doctor disapointed him when he replied "more time to plan". Good for the doctor to ram it up the talking head's butt.

MSM- worthless agenda-driven dopes. Let's remind them we just want the facts. And you get the facts simply by asking who, what, when, where, why and how.. Got It??

Oh What A Conundrum For The MSM & The Libs

Just heard the news Chief Justice Rehnquist has died. RIP.

Now the MSM and the Libs have a dilemma....continue to give the flood top billing in the news or get onto a seond Supreme Court nominee battle. It will be so interesting to see the Sunday morning news shows- I am sure they were loaded for bear to beat the crap out of Bush over the Katrina response. Now what will they do??? I predict Katrina gets 2nd billing from this moment forward!

Big-Time Kudos to Mayor Street

Philly's mayor has offered to house and pay for 1,000 families left homeless by Katrina! I extend my congratulations to the mayor - he has stepped up to do the right thing! All big cities should follow his example!

Below for your reading pleasure is the link to the story.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/special_packages/
hurricane_katrina/12544837.htm

Eagles (Amateur) TV Network

Let me take another shot at the Eagles...I watched about 5 minutes of their exhibition game last night and caught Dave Spadora telling viewers about the stadium's new computer system that enables fans to order food without leaving their seat in the stadium.

Spadora and the whole production struck me as rank amateurs. I understand it represents another way for the team to make more money by televising exhibition (NFL hates it when anyone uses this term anymore) games on its own "network". But at least try to meet industry standards of competence and professionalism.

What Do The Eagles Do With The Money Under The Salary Cap

The Philadelphia Eagles recently cut Corey Simon and saved $5 Million in salary for their once designated franchise player. That means the team is now $15 Million UNDER THE LEAGUE MANDATED SALARY CAP OF $85 Million. Or 18% below salary cap!!!!

Over the last few years, the Eagles have consistently been way under the salary cap. And every year, a friend of mine always asks "what happens to that money when a team is under the cap?" And every year, I give him the same answer..."Damned if Iknow".

Well, I provided a link below which may provide the answer if you want to research. I prefer to remain in the dark (afterall it's just a sport and I refuse to do homework on sports) and am perfectly contented to continue to curse the Eagles management for, in my opinion, being far too tightfisted.

http://www.askthecommish.com/salarycap/faq.asp

Good Article Except For The Predictably Nasty Final Paragraph

Former NY Times editor and a disaster himself, Howell Raines, wrote an oped piece today in the LA Times. Raines is a Nawlins native and he skillfully writes about his anguish of worrying about the safety of his daughter in law and grandchild. (At the same time, Raines unashamedly gets in a commercial plug for his son's "funk band" and its current venue in Seattle).

But predictably and unfortunately, Howell's column degenerates in the last part into bashing Bush, Bush's father and evil corporations. Here is the last paragraph :

"The populism of Huey Long was financially corrupt, but when it came to the welfare of people, it was caring. The churchgoing cultural populism of George Bush has given the United States an administration that worries about the House of Saud and the welfare of oil companies while the poor drown in their attics and their sons and daughters die in foreign deserts."

For your reading displeasure, I have provided below the link to Raines' article.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-raines1sep01,0,7077142.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Every State Should Chip In $5 For Each Of Its Own Residents

I suggest every state (except MS, AL, LA and FL of course) make a donation for the survivors and victims equal to $5 for every resident in their own state.

For, example, Pennsylvania would send about $60 Million or $5 for each of the approximately 12 million residents in Pennsylvania. Since the state of Pennsylvania has an annual budget of about $4 Billion, giving away another $60 Million is less than a 1.5% increase. Hell, Governor Rendell spends that much each year on cheesestakes.

If every non-affected state did their share, the aggregate total would be more than $1.2 Billion dollars! That's a good start, heh?

So call your governor and tell him you approve the state donation!

Blame It Oil On Global Warming (and the USA of course)

I think I just penned a song title for the tree-hugging crowd......"Blame it Oil on Global Warming and the USA".

Ross Gelbspan, former journalist and professional Chicken Little has carved out a nice little career for himself over the last 10-15 years warning about the evils of Global Warming.

Yesterday, Gelbspan had a column in the Boston Globe where he blames Hurrican Katrina and almost every other natural dissater else on the USA and its reluctance to approve the Kyoto treaty, etc.

In my opinion, people like Gelbspan are dangerous- he is not a scientist- he is a journalist but he gets an audience for his alleged substantive arguments as wide as if he were an Einstein. In fact, you or I are just as qualified to form an opinion. I am not yet convinced there is a global warming crisis.

Btw, I wonder how many square feet Gelbspan's home is? It's pretty common for these lib enviro whackos to decry SUV's but live in humongous houses. I will try to find out how big Gelbspan's house is- he lives in Brookline, MA.

For your reading pleasure, I have provided the link below so you can see what a nutcase he is and how much he disdains America.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/
08/30/katrinas_real_name/

Good Takedown of So-called Smart Growth Advocates

Wish I could think,argue and write as clearly as this guy, Thomas Sowell, who takes apart so-called smart growth advocates and assorted civic groups / planning commissions. Sowell's column claims these groups including "naturists" actually help to inflate the cost of real estate and homes.

For your reading pleasure, here is the link to the story via real clear politics via jewish world review.

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell1.asp

You Must Admit The Web Is Full Of Funny Stuff

Here is a humorous post at a website called www.blamebush.com

The site is a spoof of those who blame Bush for everything. For your reading pleasure, I have provided the link below:

http://blamebush.typepad.com/blamebush/2005/08/farewell_uncle_.html

Hurricane Makes Detroit Look Good

New Orleans has hosted more Super Bowls than any other city. Today, even Detroit (the site for this year's game) is looking like an excellent Super Bowl site when compared to post-hurricane Nawlins!

Unfortunately for New Orleans, the latest news clips suggests many looters may have re-located to New Orleans from their home turf in Detroit.

Help The Hurricane Victims If You Can

Here are links to the Red Cross and to the Salvation Army if you'd like to make a donation.

http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/

https://www.redcross.org/donate/donation-form.asp

More Proof of Growth In Non-Profit Sector

Here is an article from the Philadelphia Inquirer that substantiates a prior post where I stated the non-profit sector is one of the fastest growing sectors of the economy.

The most interesting tidbit (to me) in the article was the wide variation in the average wage paid to employees (depending on which segment of the economy employed them). According to the story, the government sectors pay the highest average wage today AND I would venture it also provides the most expensive benefits and pension plans. Here are the average weekly wages by sector for the state of Pennsylvania in 2003:

• Non profit sector $641
• For profit sector $679
• Local govt. $737 or 9% higher than for profit sector
• State govt. $843 or 24% higher than for profit sector

So our government workers are the highest paid and get the best benefits. Sweet huh! Below I have provided the link to the story.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/12493895.htm

When Hijackers Were Just In It For The Money

Here is a good story that re-caps a time when airplane hijackers were just in it for the money.

This guy, called D.B. Cooper, hijacked a plane, got $200,000 then parachuted from the plane over the woods of the Pacific Northwest. He was never found or caught and the story was pretty astounding and appealing on some level to me and the gang I hung around with (we were 19-20 years old at the time).

For your reading pleasure, I have provided below the link to the LA Times story.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-dbcooper28aug28,0,4127944.story?coll=la-home-headlines

I'd Like a Starbucks and a Bagel With My Free WIFI

Here is a NY Post story regarding government-provided wireless internet service. I generally oppose taxpayer-funding for what I would call a semi-luxury or non-essential commodity. But I thought the Post report is a good and balanced story.

Here is a very telling quote from a program bureaucrat (Dana Spiegel, Executive Director of NYC Wireless). I assume she heads up the incipient and free (?) WIFI program for New York city..."Just like the grass and the trees and the benches are provided by the city, we think that broadband internet access should be provided as well".

Let's think about this for a minute.....the city must be pretty well off if it can afford to spring for free WIFI for all its citizens. So I think the city should throw in a free delivery of the morning paper, a Starbucks coffee and a bagel with cream cheese. Cause I really can't start my web-browser without those accoutrements! Then I would support the program.

For your reading pleasure, I have provided below the link to the story.

http://www.nypost.com/business/51774.htm

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Excellent Unmasking of the NEA Agenda from Hube (a teacher) at the Collosus of Rhodey

Dave Huber links to a good and scathing analysis of the National Education Association's latest platform.

Here is the link below to Dave's post. He now posts at the Colussus of Rhodey.

http://colossus.mu.nu/archives/114398.php

Suspect's Photo Released by Cops But Paper Fails To Publish It

The Philadelphia Inquirer ran a news item reporting the police had identified a rape suspect and the police had also released a photo of the suspect. For some reason, the paper failed to include the photo with its story.

I will email the reporter and ask him. Interestingly, the reporter, William Gibbons is a former Philadelphia cop who was shot on duty almost thirty years ago and then took up a career as a crime reporter.

Below is the link to the article.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/12489206.htm

Philly Zoo Elephants 1874-2005 RIP

The Philadelphia Zoo has housed elephants since it opened in 1874. And to the best of my knowledge, there have been no incidents of mistreatment or egregrous neglect of the pachyderms.

Now, the AZA ( American Zoo Association) has set new guidelines for how AZA/ member zoos must house and care for elephants. The AZA wants elephants to have acres of space to roam around just like they were still in the wild. The bottom line is the Philly zoo may transfer its elephants to better-suited zoos and our kids would no longer have a chance to see elephants at the Philly zoo.

That's crazy!!! Elephants have been well cared for at the zoo for 131 years!! And now some meddling, buttinskis are telling Philly what to do. AND I do understand this threat is a not-so-subtle attempt to blackmail the donor and government community to force them to ante up millions of dollars so the zoo can build a habitat for the elephants that meets the AZA new standards.

Here is a quote from the Philly Zoo chairman, Peter Gould ..."we need to do the right thing by the animals. It's clear the status quo is not a long-term, sustainable status quo." Blogger's comment .....UNLESS YOU CONSIDER 131 YEARS LONG-TERM!! GOULD MUST BE A WEENIE AND AN IDIOT. HE SHOULD TELL THE AZA TO GO POUND SAND. I BET THE ZOO WON'T DARE POLL ITS ANNUAL SUBSCRIBERS AND FINANCIAL SUPPORTERS TO SEE HOW THEY FEEL ABOUT LOSING THE ELEPHANTS.

Here is the story's link below.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/local/12493913.htm

This Is Funny & Yes I Admit I Hate Her

Dear Abby,

My husband is a liar and a cheat. He has cheated on me from the beginning, and when I confront him, he denies everything. What's worse, everyone knows he cheats on me. It is so humiliating. Also, since he lost his job three years ago he hasn't even looked for a new one. All he does is buy cigars and cruise around and jokes with his pals, while I have to work to pay the bills. Since our daughter went away to college he doesn't even pretend to like me and hints that I am a lesbian. What should I do?

Signed
Clueless

Dear Clueless:Grow up and dump him. For Pete's sake, you don't need him anymore, you're a United States Senator from New York, act like it.

Note this joke was borrowed from Atlas Shugs via Rightwingsparkle(because it was too funny not to)

Good Article Re Lack of Conservatives in Academia

For your reading pleasure, I provided below the link for an article that discusses the dirth of conservative voices among America's college faculties. It's not a revelation but the articlequotes some of the leading libs at their bestest. Enjoy- here is the link:

http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2005/08/26/johnson

Non-Profits Can Be Corrupt Too

I have been told the non-profit sector of our economy is the fastest-growing part of our economy. That said, I believe there is a lot of fraud, personal greed and deceit in this sector and that does not include the highly-compensated (overpaid) execs running many of the non-profits.

The financial data for all non-profits should be 100% transparent and available for public scrutiny. There are three types of non-profits in this country:

• The traditional church or religious organization that pays its employees below-average salaries and pays even less to its priests/ministers and nuns.
• The small and struggling non-profit that scrapes by on its meager donations and the work of its volunteers.
• And the mega non-profits like the Pew Foundation, bureaucratic paper-pushers like the United Way and mega churches like that run by Pat Roberson.

This last group (like Robertson's) is where the gross malfeasance typically occurs. Just today, the WAPO (link provided below) reported today that Pat Robertson is making a bundle in a for-profit company selling his special milkshake and he may have screwed one of the product developers out of the lucrative deal.

The Pew Foundation has billions of dollars and one of its initiatives is "The Internet and American Life" or some other such bull-crap. Can you imagine what the original Pew family donors would think about their gigantic bequest being wasted on something like that??? Yes, I said wasted. The Pew Foundation is always butting their noses into public issues like sufficient spending on education- why doesn't PEW (as an experiment) give a billion or so of its loot to a single school district to see if great gobs money can really solve education problems? Nah, that would never happen cause then the Pew Foundation would go out of business and the high-paid execs would lose their jobs.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/25/AR2005082501806_pf.html

Beloit College Annual List- A Neat Tradition

Beloit College in Wisconsin now publishes an annual list that lists things that are normal for their entering freshmen (i.e Starbucks) or before their time (Jackie Gleason) or an anachronism (the ability to tie a necktie).

I think the list is kinda neat so I have provvided the link below. Re the neckties, I have a friend who used to just loosen the ties because he was somewhat challenged at tying the knot correctly. Once he came home and was dismayed to see his new live-in girlfriend had done some housecleaning including untying the knots in all of his ties.

Lastly, the Beloit list reminds me of the game every generation plays by telling younger listeners how tought it once was. My favorite is to tell them that when we were their age, we only had three TV channels to choose from. I think that scares the crap out of them.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0825/p09s02-coop.html

The Obit As Printed By the Pottsville Republican

James J. Lynch, of Rhawnhurst, died on Sunday. He was in his 89th year and was preceded in death by his beloved wife, Margaret McGee. Mr. Lynch was born in Phoenix Park and was a son of John and Lottie Lynch.

He was one of ten children and is survived by his daughters, Barbara, wife of Michael Pumple, and Judith, wife of Michael Gullotti; his sons, Anthony and Timothy; eight grandchildren; a great-grandchild; his two brothers, Gerard and William Lynch. He was preceded in death by his sisters, Margaret, Anne, Catherine and Mary; brothers John, Edward "Ted" and Francis "Pat."

The son of a coal miner, Mr. Lynch was an Army veteran of World War II, having entered the service in February 1942, and was stationed in the Aleutians Island during the war. Before moving to Philadelphia, Mr. Lynch was a teacher and baseball coach at Branch Township, his alma mater, in Minersville. Mr. Lynch earned a bachelor's degree in education and a master's degree.

He taught math, science and physical education at the Shawmont Elementary School in Roxborough for more than 25 years and retired in 1979. He was a graduate of Kutztown State Teachers College, where he was known as the Irish Flash for his exceptional speed in the 100-yard dash. Unfortunately, neither his high school nor Kutztown had a track team in those days, but Mr. Lynch claimed the Kutztown football team would pause its team practice to watch him show off his speed in the 100-yard dash.

He also gambled a bit at Kutztown and hinted the walls of his dorm room still had dice marks from the many games of craps they played.

He was a lifelong sports fan and coached baseball for several years for the Rhawnhurst Athletic Association. He loved watching sports on TV and was a big fan of the Phillies, Eagles, college basketball, horse racing, women's softball, the little league world series and pool, to name a few. In fact, when he retired, his fellow teachers gave him a pool cue as a retirement gift.

As a young boy, he had seen the powerful Pottsville Maroons play. They were a forerunner of the NFL teams and laid claim to a league championship that is disputed to this day.

He was an avid reader, had an encyclopedic memory and never forgot a birthday for one of his grandchildren. Just one week before his death, during a phone call he learned a grandson had visited Ithaca to check out potential colleges. Mr. Lynch spontaneously launched into a rendition of a fight song he had heard 50 years ago when the University of Pennsylvania football fans would mock their Thanksgiving opponent, Cornell, located in Ithaca.

The family requests Mass cards or a donation to a charity of choice. A viewing will be held at George Fox Funeral Home, Philadelphia, tonight from 7 to 9 p.m. A funeral mass will be at 10 a.m. on Wednesday at Resurrection of Our Lord Church.

Dad's Obit As Printed in the Philly Inquirer

James J. Lynch Teacher, coach, 88
James J. Lynch, 88, of Rhawnhurst, a teacher and coach for more than 25 years, died of congestive heart failure Sunday at Nazareth Hospital.
One of 10 children of a coal miner in Schuylkill County, Mr. Lynch earned a bachelor's degree in education in 1937 from Kutztown State Teachers College. He taught and coached baseball at his high school alma mater, Branch Township in Minersville, until being drafted by the Army in 1942. He was stationed in the Aleutian Islands before being discharged at the end of World War II.
Mr. Lynch returned to teaching in Minersville, then moved to Roxborough to teach math, science and physical education at Shawmont Elementary School for more than 25 years. He returned to college to earn a master's degree in education from Temple University in 1961. Mr. Lynch retired in 1979.
He enjoyed horse racing, women's softball, the Phillies and Eagles, and playing pool. His colleagues gave him a pool cue as a retirement gift.
"My dad liked to act up," said son Anthony. "Two of his four sisters would not get married in their hometown because the six Irish brothers were rowdy and drank too much at weddings."
In addition to his son, Mr. Lynch is survived by son Timothy; daughters Barbara Pumple and Judith Gullotti, eight grandchildren; one great-grandchild; and two brothers. His wife of 31 years, Margaret McGee, died in 1980.
Friends may visit at 7 tonight at George Fox Funeral Home, 7026 Castor Ave. A Funeral Mass will be said at 11 a.m. tomorrow at Resurrection of Our Lord Church, Castor Avenue and Vista Street in the Northeast. Burial will be in Resurrection Cemetery, Bensalem.