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!