Cheyney Hub Bub

It appears the Washington MSM is all abuzz because the news of the Cheyney shooting was not put in a press release for their consumption sooner. It took 18 hours or so and Hardball's Chris Matthews spent almost his whole show covering the unexplained delay. May be Cheyney figured it was OK to follow Ted Kennedy's example at CHappaquiiddick.

The MSM hubbub shows what the American MSM has become - regurgitators of press releases. Do they really have to go to college to prepare for that? It seem they have forgotten it is their job to go and dig up news.

Shouldn't this story have been broken by some cub reporter (do they still have them?) who was gloomy because he was assigned to cover the boring travels of the vice president. So, where were those reporters who are assigned to the VP? Did they have their heads up their butts or what?? Or maybe the MSM has all its resources hanging around the White House waiting for that press release to do their work for them.

Cheyney Sends A Message To Scooter?

Did you hear about the "accident" Scooter? Let that be a warning to you. Uncle Dick knows where you live!! [and what kind of name is Scooter anyway]

PA State Budget Costs $2,100/ Resident

Current and soon to be one-term Governor Fat Eddie Rendell just announced his annual budget proposal for the state of Pennsylvania. It's like $24 Billion or so. Trust me it is the equivalent of $2,100 for every man, woman and child in the state. Just yesterday I posted a comment that the latest federal budget proposed by Bush is $9,000 per resident. So combined the two are spending $11,000 per Pennsylvania resident (and yes I understand that some of the PA budget comes from the feds).

But don't forget too that tax revenue such as gasoline taxes and other government fees are not included in the numbers above (in some cases). Pigs At The Trough I tell you. Anyway you slice it sounds like way too much wasteful spending to me!!!! And unless you are a government-loving lib, you should agree.

Ann Althouse Is In A Slump

One of my favorite blogs is Ann Althouse's. She generally has interesting postings and topics and her readers are pretty smart and informed so the conversations are interesting. But for the last 2-3 weeks, her posts have been really uninteresting to me. That's why I say she is in a slump!

Lately, Althpuse has been writing about stuff like her son's lame artwork and her angst-ridden decision to move from a big house to a condo. Ann, here is an FYI for you. Please don't take huge offense, but I probably don't care much about you or your personal life. However, I do enjoy reading about the outside interests you select for your blog. So get back to work and enough with the personal minutiae.

Here is her website; suggest you check it out. www.althouse.blogspot.com

"Muslim Cartoon Riots"

Was watching O'Reilley last night and he announced his next segment would be on the "Muslim Cartoon Riots". Doesn't that sound funny? Like some sort of joke or maybe a music/rap/ rock band...such as O.D.B. was Old Dirty Bastard. Or the Dead Kennedys. Yeah, I can almost see it "now appearing tonight and back by popular demand the Muslim Cartoon Riots".

Last comment- those Mulims sure have a lot of free time on their hands. And I always wondered how much work a man could do when the Koran requires you to stop and pray six times a day.

The West needs to do more humanitarian work in the Muslim world. I think it is critical for us to encourage those young Muslim men to get involved in more important activities like capitalism, blind career ambition, battling obesity, staving off credit card debt, choosing your favorite substance abuse, avoiding bankruptcy, carrying on fine family traditions like alcoholism, and participating in fun-filled group activities like bowling or gamblers anonymous. Why should we have all the fun?

Power Corrupts

In round numbers, the federal budget has grown since 2000 from $1.8 trillion to 2.7 trillion. That is a 50% increase in five years!! That is an annual increase of $3,000 per person!!!!!! Means in 2000, federal government cost you $6,000 per year and now it costs you $9,000.

Jeez, that is a disgrace and it can't all be attributed to 911 and GWOT. Can you say Pigs At The Trough? How many of you have seen your family income grow by 50% in the last five years?

In Pennsylvania, last summer's pay-raise grab by the state legislators is leading to a possible seismic shift in voter sentiment. I think an awful lot of incumbents will be cast out of office. That is what voters should do to the Congress! Can we all say term limits?

Birthdays Coincidence

February 5th is Hank Aaron's birthday. He, of course, is baseball's all time career home run king. Hammering Hank hit 754 home runs. Oddly enough, Hank took the home run record from Babe Ruth, The Sultan Of Swat whose birthday is February 4th, just one day before Hank's. ..I think that is pretty interesting. And I just learned that yestderday. Hat tip to my brother who shares the same birthday with Hammering Hank.

Oh the Irony

Check out this link to a website that mocks angry muslim response to their depiction as angry muslims.

http://oddbits3.blogspot.com/2006/02/angry-muslim-terrorists-protest.html

Super Bowl Prediction

I see a really hard-fought, exciting game and the Seahawks win by a point in a not high scoring game due to a young Roethlisberger (the Steeler QB) miscue. But I am rooting for a Steelers win cause I am a Pennsylvanian and I think it could help Lynn Swann beat Fat Eddie Rendell next fall. Enjoy the game!

Will Buy Sirius Satellite "Stream Jockey II"

I gave Sirius satellite radio as an Xmas gift and bought the boombox before Xmas but the receiver was sold out at the time. Now here it is almost six weeks later and the receiver I need is still unavailable ABSOLUTELY ANYWHERE. So, if anyone has a contact, I want to buy the Sirius receiver called Stream Jockey II.

Sirius has to be losing SERIOUS amounts of money everyday cause there must be 1,000's just like me. IDIOTS!!

XPN - Now Has Commercials??!!

WXPN, the nationally reknowned radio station owned and operated by the University of Pennsylvania, just finished it's semi-annual fund drive.

It is a great station and is proud to tell listeners it is "member supported". I have given it small donations myself a couple times. But this morning, I swear I heard the DJ read a commercial for Dodge! Now,the station has been drifting across the line for several years with announcements such as "XYZ Corporation is a proud supporter of XPN". But the one I just heard crossed all the way over the line. What is up with that XPN? You can't have it both ways.

BTW, If you have never listened, check it out on the internets. You can find by googling WXPN (and google is not paying me to say that).

Best Letter To The Editor (tried to find a uplifting winner but this was too easy)

Below is a letter to the editor. It was published in the Philly Inquirer on 2/02/06. Frank Keel submitted the letter to the Inquirer. It appears, from his letter, Mr. Keel is simply a public-minded citizen from the suburbs. But, in fact, Mr. Keel is a well known and well-paid public relations professional whose clients include many Democratic city elected officials. These include (I believe) Mayor Street during his last election campaign, and Councilman Rick Mariana until Mariani’s unfortunate federal corruption indictment. Ironically or not, Keel’s letter criticizes an Inquirer reporter for a recent story on a Republican candidate for mayor, Tom Knox.

I’d like to criticize the Inquirer for failing to point out Keel’s role in city politics and for stooping so low as to select Keel’s letter for publication. Afterall, it was Keel who was criticized because his wife apparently wrote letters to the editor under her maiden name in the last mayoral campaign. Below is the actual letter.

A candidate or not?

In the Jan. 22 Inquirer, gazillionaire and mayoral candidate Tom Knox announced that he was resigning his position as chief executive officer of UnitedHealthcare to devote all of his time and energy to becoming mayor ("Insurance firm's chief exits to focus on '07 mayoral run). In the very next breath, he stated that he was not going to abide by new campaign contribution limits and used the rationale that he didn't have to adhere to the limits because he was not a declared candidate for mayor.
Which is it? He quit his job to run for mayor but won't abide by the rules because he hasn't announced that he's running for mayor? Huh? And why didn't The Inquirer's reporter call Knox on his doublespeak?

Frank KeelNorth Wales

$110 Million Dollar Whiner

Donovan McNabb is being paid a bazillion dollars to play a kid's game and he whines about being dissed by T.O. I think McNabb must be a real Momma's boy. He needs to grow a spine and stop eating all that soup with his Mommy or he's gonna look like the Pillsbury Doughboy one day (he already sounds like him).

And please stop with the "black on black crime" crap. There are kids being shot every day in Philly and McNabb thinks being figuratively bitchslapped by T.O. belongs in the same category.

Lets Drill Down Into The Number Of Uninsured

We are often reminded there are 45 million uninsured people in this country. Let’s look at what comprises 45 million number. The figure is derived from US Census data; I checked it myself at http://www.census.gov/ and learned the following:

• In 2004, there were 45,820,000 individuals without health insurance and here are some non-mutually exclusive facts regarding the uninsured individuals.


• 34% (15,934,000 people) or one of three was in a household with income of $50,000 or more.


• 17% (8,092,000 people) or one of six was in a household with income of $75,000 or more.


• 25% of the uninsured individuals (11,859,000 people) or one out of four were foreign born.


• 20% (9,542,000 people) or one of five are not citizens.


• 19% (8,772,000 people) or almost one out every five was between the ages 18-24.

The census data suggests the uninsured crisis is partly hyperbole. A good number of the uninsured could afford insurance coverage but apparently decided they don’t want to pay their own premiums. That group represents one-third of the total. You may guess if COBRA premiums were made more economical, the size of this group would likely shrink significantly.

The group between 18-24 is primarily comprised of college students and others trying to find their career niche. They tend to fall off their parent’s insurance policy when they reach the age of 19. Once they settle into a regular job, the majority get insurance coverage.

The non-citizens represent 20% of the total. Should an immigrant expect immediate coverage for health insurance from his/her new country? I am curious as to how an immigrant is treated in countries with national health insurance. The United States admits 2-3 million immigrants each year so this data seems to suggest the average immigrant is without insurance for 2-3 years after their date of immigration. That does not seem like a bad trade-off to trade life in this country with their former homeland.

I trust you understand these categories are not mutually exclusive. That means a high-income individual may also be a non-citizen and I am not trying to count those twice. I just used the base US Census data as best as I could.

Lastly, I would argue that anyone who truly wants to fix health insurance in this country is not acting in good faith when they use this 45 Million number. The census data detail supports my argument.

Out Of Touch?

This morning on the Today Show, John Kerry was quoted in news accounts as saying that 53% of students don't graduate from high school. That is so blatantly wrong, it confirms what I believe about Kerry...that he is out of touch and out to lunch.

When I mentioned this to a far left co-worker, she replied she thought Kerry could be accurate because you know once you get away from the coast, education is inferior and in fact, she heard on NPR that there are still about 500 one-room schoolhouses in the USA (like that is relevant).

Memo to self- don't discuss this unfair country with this lib co-worker again. Talk about reality-based discussions huh?

Best Letter To The Editor

Some blogs post a regular feature they refer to as "the week's worst letter to the editor". I think I will try a variation of that and post the "Week's Best Letter To The Editor". Here is the inaugural winner from a Kate Kane of Chesterport. She wrote into the New York Post and pointed out the stupidity and waste of money when the school district spends vast sums of time and money to translate documents to languages other than English. Good Job Kate! (Sorry but there is no prize yet for the winner).

Best Letter To The Editor(from the New York Post on 01/28/06):
Dear Editor:
As a bilingual social worker in a NYC public school, I protest the City Council's plan to translate school-related documents so as to engage more parents in their childrens' education. The schools already translate many documents for parents. In addition, a bilingual staff is available to help parents with translations and specific school issues.

Since non-English-speaking parents are able to get jobs, apply for welfare, make airline reservations and obtain apartments, they are clearly able to function in New York City. The parents who are not involved in their children's education choose not to be involved.

Kate Kane
Centerport

How Long Has Ex-CNN Anchor Believed This?

I never cared for Aaron Brown, the former CNN anchor. Thought he was too much of a wuss and was better suited to be one of those soft spoken NPR jobs.

Now that he is an ex-anchor for a cable channel, Brown is freely sharing his deep thoughts and big ideas. Below is what he said recently about the world today:

"Truth no longer matters in the context of politics and, sadly, in the context of cable news," said Aaron Brown, whose four-year period as anchor of CNN's NewsNight ended in November, when network executives gave his job to Anderson Cooper in a bid to push the show's ratings closer to front-runner Fox News.

And I think Brown is still being paid by CNN at least until the end of his contract.

Phoenix Real Estate

Saw this item about Phoenix real estate and specifically John McCain's attempt to sell his mansion. I was out in Scottsdale about 4 months ago and wondered then if it could be a good market to open a 2nd office. Don't think this is a bubble yet. Below is the link if you want to read.

http://upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20060126-040731-5248r

What You Might Call "Thinking Outside The Box"

The NY Knicks GM is being sued for sex harrassment by a former Knicks employee.

In these types of cases, all kinds of claims and accusations are thrown against the wall in the hopes one claim will stick (against the deep-pocketed defendant like the Knicks). So the lady included the claim that Isiah Thomas wanted to schedule more games at noon because he planned to try to to get the opposing team's players drunk the night before at area clubs. If this is a false claim, I suggest Thomas should claim (off the record of course) it's true because it's a pretty crafty scheme- what I call thinking outside the box.

Below is the actual quote from the news story. "The lawsuit also alleges that Thomas told Browne Sanders he was pushing for more home games at noon on Sundays. His plan, according to Browne Sanders, was to have opposing players go to certain clubs, including strip clubs, that Thomas had connections with on Saturday nights and get them drunk so they would be sluggish for the game the next day.

"The Antique Media"

Below is the link to an excellent article called the Antique Media by Thomas Lifson. I think he nails what has occurred to the MSM and what lies in their future.

I wholeheartedly agree with his statement that Watergate led to the MSM taking a sharp left turn. I believe Watergate actually ruined the MSM. After Watergate, the average media employee evolved from having an ordinary lower to middle class background to being an Ivy League rich kid bound and determined to emulate Woodward & Bernstein and take out a president too.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/Commentary/com-1_25_06_TL.html

This Is Just Plain Wrong

Here is a NY Post story about how some Port Authority cops are making mucho dinero in overtime in 2005. The story listed five policeman and how much they made includng overtime:

Sgt. Rienzie $249,000
Sgt. P. Ryan $228,000
Ofc. P. Callaghan $210,000
Sgt. R. Keith $225,000
Sgt. L Goldberg $210,000

And I guess a good year like this makes their pension check that much fatter!! Pretty good for a civil servant, huh? Below is the link to the story if you don't believe me....
http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/61643.htm

90% Of Homeless Victims Were Drunk

In a story about the extreme cold in Europe, this sentence caught my eye.... "About half the vistims were homeless and 90% of those were drunk." Now is that an estimate and can it be accurate? Did they actually test the corpse's blood alcohol after it thawed out? Or did the writer mean to say the homeless victims were alcoholics which would be a very different statement with different meaning (the "90% were drunk" would never get past an American editor who would be troubled about appearing politically incorrect)?

BTW, every winter in Alaska, it is routine to hear about a few people who have died from severe exposure after exiting a bar (the night before) in a drunken stupor and passing out in a snowbank before they could make it to their home. Below is the link to the story re the European frost if you want to read.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/23012006/323/eastern-europe-freezes-killer-cold.html

Walmart, Government Employees & Other Questions

The Maryland State Legislature just passed a law requiring Walmart to pay a minimum of 8% of Walmart employees’ payroll towards health insurance for the employees.

I don’t support this type of legislation because it really targets and singles out one company. And I am just not convinced Walmart is evil though I am aware that idea is the current conventional wisdom being spread by the left-leaning political class and its grass-roots lapdogs.

But if you drill down deep enough, you will find a substantial chasm between what the state legislators are requiring of Walmart and what taxpayers “contribute” towards health insurance for state/local government employees (a group which generally includes state legislators). And few are discussing this chasm because it is not part of the news du jour.

Statistics show the average government employee is paid significantly more than the average non-government employee and their benefits cost considerably more than the average non-government employee. For example, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (published in USA Today on January 17, 2005):

• The average state/local government employee is paid $24.52 per hour and gets health insurance worth another $3.82 per hour. That totals $28.34.


• So, the state/local govt. employee’s health insurance is 16% of his hourly pay.


• The average non-government (private) employee earns $17.23 per hour and gets health insurance worth another $1.66. That totals $18.89.


• So the private employee’s health insurance is 10% of his hourly pay.


• The cost of health insurance for govt. employees is more than TWICE the cost paid for the average private employee ($3.82 vs. $1.66).

As I said above, the Maryland legislation requires Walmart to pay at least 8% towards employee health insurance.

Whether you agree with the legislation or not, it is fair to ask why the legislators require only 8% when taxpayers pay 16% for its beloved government employees and private employers pay only 10%. And you may also ask why does the average government employee’s health insurance cost the taxpayers so much? Depending on how well you like the answer to that question, it could be time for a change!

(In the interest of full disclosure, I don’t have a dog in this fight. I am self-employed and pay100% of my own health insurance premiums.)

Cold In Russia So Get The Monkeys Drunk

It;s been very cold in Russia, so the monkeys at the zoo are getting what I assume is special care because I saw this quote in a news story on Drudge..... "At a zoo in Lipetsk, south of Moscow, zoo director Alexander Osipov said monkeys would be given wine three times day, "to protect against colds," the RIA-Novosti news agency reported. I bet the monkeys like this daily regimen of forced drunkenness. Could give a whole new meaning to the phrase "monkey business" but I suspect PETA will launch a protest soon.

(Non-profit) Ambulance Company Finances Are Probed

One of my pet peeves is when a non-profit does not spend a sufficient portion of its income on its primary and stated mission (like the PU which spends maybe 5% of its total net worth), or serves to greatly enrich those who control it (like this ambulance company apparently), or one which spends "charitable" funds on programs that may not be charitable efforts (like the PU which is spending $50Million or so to move an art museum).

So today's Inquirer has a story about a Philadelphia area non-profit ambulance company whose unpaid executives may have diverted a good part of donated funds to some non-ambulance purposes. These included remodeling one's home to the tune of $70,000, buying two jet skis for $14,000 and paying the tab at several strip clubs. Jeez, how do you expect these hard-working volunteers to unwind? Here is the link if you want to read the whole story.

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/13657697.htm

911 Truce Offer on 119

Is it concidental that OBL has broadcast a truce offer on January 19 (or 119)? I think it is a poignant moment and provides proof we have Al Quaeda turned around and on the run so that 911 is now signified by their de facto surrender and we will one day celebrate this day as 119! Let's hope I am right.

Somewhere His Former Employer Is Breathing A Sigh Of Relief

Ray Nagin, the mayor of New Orleans, is said to be a former executive for a cable company. Do you think that company misses him?

TV Star Did Not Own A TV (and if you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you)

Don't you want to smack a TV star when you hear them say they don't watch TV or don't even own a TV? Because when you hear this, you are actually spending your own valuable time watching this faux snob on your TV.

The reason I bring this up, I saw a little of the Golden Globes the other night and a star of the show, LOST, was being interviewed. Her name is Evangeline Lilly and is a up and coming star accoring to the news media. Lilly was asked about her career, etc. and in one response, she claims that prior to being on the show, she did not have nor watch TV. I am skeptical when people or actors claim such nonsense and suspect they think the public will view them as some sort of intellectual.

They should have asked Lilly (CORRECTION) about her two castmates being arrested for DWI about 3-4 weeks ago and within 30 minutes of each other. Now, that would have been interesting.

A Tale Of Two Idiots

The Arizona Republic wrote a story today about a young Glendale couple who have an annual income of over $120,000 per year, pay $208 per month for health insurance and can't seem to get ahead.

The paper called the story "Benefits Drive Choice Of Jobs" and that's not really news anymore. But if you read this story, I suggest a better title would be "Crying Poor With a Loaf Of Bread Under Each Arm And One In Her Mouth" or perhaps "A Tale Of Two Idiots". For your reading pleasure, here is the link. It will make you want to strangle these two dopes. And if the paper was aiming to harpoon the healthcare industry or corporate America, its aim was way off the mark.

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0116HCR-kanitsch.html

I Propose The Pew Charitable Trust Change Its Name to The PU Charitable Trust

If The PU agrees to my proposal, I will lend my support to its unbelievably dynamic and wonderfully unique and creative idea to change the name of 30th Street Station to Ben Franklin Station. And the PU must also modify its brand by adding a smelly but small skunk to its logo and letterhead.

PU Charitable Trust Announces It Will Never Lack For Ways to Waste Its Charitable Funds

The PU Charitable Trust is behind the idea to change the name of Philly's Amtrak station from its current name of 30th Street Station to "Ben Franklin Station" in honor of his 300th birthday which I believe is today. And what a coincidence it is that Mayor Street and Philly's Government's Official Tourism Agency Head (Meryl Levitz) now support this idea. Hell, Levitz went so far as to write an OPED for the INquirer touting this wonderful groundbreaking idea.

Now keep in mind the PU Charitable Trust is officially named The Pew Charitable Trust. AND it is willing to pay as much as $3Million in expenses to Amtrak to cover the estimated cost of changing the signs,etc to Ben Franklin Station. I can believe it is very expensive to change those little revolving and clicking signs you see at train stations. But is this the true work and mission of the PU Charitable Trust??

What would you think if a church or other charity had this idea and offered to pay for such a low (IMHO) priority initiative? I am a firm believer the government should just take 10% of the PU's money (they have more than $4 Billion) each year or tax them like a for-profit company.

The story contained a funny quote from the Philly Weekly regarding PU's wasteful proposal...Philadelphia Weekly this week joked that the proposal "shows the Pew Charitable Trusts is running out of ways to spend their money."

Here is the Inquirer reporter's slightly cynical (IMHO) outlook on the PU idea: " The charity maintains more than $4 billion in assets. Redoing all the signage at the train station is expected to run a mere $3 million". Good for Inga Saffron, she is one of the paper's best writers and she successfully belittles the PU proposal without being too obvious.

Addicted To Our Tax Revenues

The Philly news stations and talk-radio have been buzzing about a plan by the state legislature to enact a sales tax of 6-7% on health and fitness club dues. They are going pretty nuts asking why they want to tax something that is so good for you.

The answer is the political class is addicted to tax revenue. They claim they want to reform property taxes so they raise the sales tax and hope no one notices. They rarely reduce government expenditures and that is the root of the problem.

Blogosphere Asks Congress To Heal Itself Or Else

Read the mission statement from some bloggers who are appealing to the current Congress to clean up its act or be voted out. Here is the link below:

http://www.truthlaidbear.com

Speaking Of Felons (Michael Milken)

It's easy to forget but Philly is known for a few more things than just soft pretzels, Rocky, saying wodder instead of water, and corrupt politicians. Here is a list of the Top Ten Life Sciences markets as ranked by an investment organization named after a convicted felon (I think). Philly is #3!! The Top Ten as ranked by Milken Institute Life Sciences Composite Index (June 2005 list) below (and don't ask me what the score in parenthesis means):

1. Boston (100)
2. Greater San Francisco (98.4)
3. Greater Philadelphia (97.1)
4. Greater New York (94.6)
5. Greater Raleigh-Durham (91.1)
6. San Diego (90.7)
7. Greater Los Angeles (87.0)
8. Minneapolis (77.9)
9. Chicago (75.9)
10. Seattle (70.9)

Limit Political Campaign Contributions To The Average Weekly Wage

I saw a report yesterday that the average weekly wage in the largest metro markets is $751. And I thought it would make sense to limit lawful campaign contributions to the size of the average American's weekly paycheck.

So, let's hear it for a campaign contribution limit of no more than $751 (one week's pay) to a single candidate and no more than the average year's pay ($751 x 52 = $39,052) for a candidate to donate to himself. But, let's be nice and allow immediate family members to give no more than 4 weeks pay (4 x $751). These limits will prevent super-rich candidates like Jon Corzine from buying their way into office by funding their own humongous campaign chest.

This sound reasonable to you? Oh and only eligible voters can make contributions; that means no more corporate nor union nor PAC nor felon's money allowed!

DNA Says Executed Killer Was In Fact Guilty

USA Today just reported the convicted killer who was executed in 1992 by the state of Virginia was found guilty for a second time by DNA testing. Here is a pretty funny quote from the story:

"Death penalty proponents welcomed the results. "Stop the presses — it turns out that rapists and killers are also liars," Michael Paranzino, president of a group called Throw Away the Key, said in a statement. "

You gotta admit that's a funny line- wonder who else besides me will "borrow it". Below is the link to the story if you would like to read it.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-01-12-dna-virginia_x.htm?csp=24

No Call For Reader Profanity But Paper Left Out Pertinent Fact From Story

I heard back from the Inquirer reporter whose story I took issue with in a previous post. She was very reasonable and did admit the Sunday Justice counter-rally was organized by a group called Fenton Communications. When I googled Fenton on the internets, I learned it is very big lobbying firm and has done a lot of work for Moveon.org and some other liberal initiatives (that background should have been included in the news story).

Here is a link to their website: http://www.fenton.com/pages/home.htm

The reported admitted, in hindsight, she should have included the Fenton involvement in her story. Fenton organized the conference call for the opposing ministers with media members and I believe that went a long way in demonstrating Fenton's influence and ability to get a news story placed in a very large metro newspaper (and which ended up on Page 1 of the Metro section).

The reporter also told me she got a lot of complaints about the story and many of the complainers were Christians and some used disgusting profanity. I believe her and that is just not right!!

The Inquirer should print those that were made in emails and let the writer be damned (especially if they are Christian, ha ha). How can readers expect reporters to be fair and impartial when the reporters are abused like that?

And, I do confess I once did that in a business email and a lotta subsequent f-bombs were exchanged. I almost made a hasty, long-distance trip to resolve that issue to my own personal satisfaction but I am told vengeance is best when served cold (is that the correct quote?)

60 Million Watched the Rose Bowl But 80 Million Will See The Alito Rally

Below is the link to a news story about a rally planned for a black church in north Philadelphia. The rally is to gather support for the nomination of Samuel Alito. The story predicts the rally will have a TV audience of 80 Million!! Here is the quote from the story ...."The program is to air to an audience estimated at 80 million through Christian television and radio stations and through simulcasts to churches".

That is a seriously outlandish estimate. According to US Today on Friday, the Rose Bowl was seen by 21.7% of US households which represents 60 million viewers (or 1 out of every 5 Americans) IF and only IF every person in those households watched the game.

I emailed a letter to the Inky editor and asked how they came up with this estimate of an 80 million audience. I also asked how and who organized the Inquirer's conference call with the concerned ministers since the conference call seems to have spurred the story.

Lastly, the story in the paper was headlined" Plans For Christian Rally Are Attacked". The online version now reads "criticized" instead of attacked. It seems the MSM truly views these Christian groups and events as something to be demonized and their influence grossly exagerrated. It's almost hilarious but it is a shame too. And I am writing as a lapsed Catholic who has been in a church twice in the last two years (each time was for a funeral) so don't get the idea I am some sort of born-again evangelical.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/13573475.htm

The National Dems Are So Stupid

According to this Drudge Report flash, the Democrats plan to try to take down Judge Alito by smearing him with wacky witnesses including a PETA supporter who sounds like a real whackadoodle (named Steven Dujack?).

The Dems are truly stuck on stupid. Let's face it: Judge Alito is not a sinister or evil character and the American people sense that so they will be amazed the Dems are pulling this stunt.

It's almost a suicidal strategy; they should clean house and recruit some reasonable leaders (like Harold Ford) who are not weenies, wussies, geeks, know-it-alls and elitists. That's why they can't win elections.

Think about it...Reid, Dean, Kerry, Pelosi, Kennedy, Boxer, Durbin, Carl Levin, Rahm Emanual, HRC. The American people must look at this group and gag. And I used to revere the Kennedys but this group of idiots pales when compared to JFK and RFK.

If Kennedy had balls, he'd ask to raise the minimum wage to $10 AND get rid of alot of the wasteful social programs like paid day care. But he has no balls and never had vision.

The Republican are only slightly better but they are better. Here is the link to the Drudge report if you want to read. http://www.drudgereport.com/flash5ja.htm

Almost 95% Caucasian

At the Reading Terminal on Friday 12/30 around 2PM for lunch. It's very crowded, business is booming and (I tend to be observant and notice stuff) I estimate the crowd is almost 95% non-black. What is up with that?? Philly has to be around 50% black population...can my eyes be deceiving me? No, because it's the same at a Philles or an Eagles game. Why is that- is it due to socio-economic differences? Just thought I'd ask.

And BTW, the Reading Terminal(a gigantic former Pennsylvania Railroad trainshed in downtown Philly at 12th and Arch) is a fantastic place to visit and eat lunch if you are in Philly. It's open Mondays-Saturdays and is food court style so everyone can get different stuff ranging from cheesesteaks, sushi, crab cakes, Italian, Pa Dutch/ Amish specialties, Termini's baked goods. Enough said!

Don't Ordinarily Do Movie Reviews...

but is it really possible to have THREE thumbs up or down?

Get Me Some Scalps (every edition)

Let me try to keep this really simple. Newspaper readers like it best when the paper rakes a lotta muck and serves its readers plenty of fresh, bloody scalps. Is that really a secret to anyone?? Then why have the newspapers stopped serving me scalps everyday with my daily paper?

It's a simple formula (or business model as they like to call it in Harvard Business School) ...give me, the faithful reader, some scalps and I will buy AND read your paper on a regular basis. Yes, I mean the scalps of people like Abramoff, The Hammer, Senator Vince, Fast Eddie, Ricky the Councilman, Slam Dunk Tenet, corporate pension looters, union goons who loot the taxpayers with fat pension demands, the (ostensible) charity bigwigs who spend less than 10% of every dollar they have (like the PU Foundation), the football team owners who could have spent maybe $1 Million after the Superbowl on a bone for T.O. and thus avoided this fiasco of a season, the bigshots at the electric company and SEPTA and Blue Cross who authorized wasting millions on TV ads, the local weather news idiots who think we are scared to leave the house without their forecast, cops who don't ticket enough nimrods who chat on cell phones while driving like imbeciles, politicians who have been in office for years yet have never seen the Friday rush-hour bottlenecks, and school boards and editorial writers who think all the schools need is just s little more money, amd lastly people who think everyone can be saved and have the same identical opportunity-filled and boring life and eliminate the grisly world which produces all the storylines for our beloved cop shows (now, that is a scary thought...no Law & Order on TV).

Yes, that is all I want from my newspaper. Am I asking for too much?

The Inquirer Does Some Fine Katrina Reporting

The Philadelphia Inquirer had a fine story on January 2, 2006 which reported the Katrina dead were no poorer, on average, than the residents of the New Orleans area as a whole. Kudos to the Inquirer for giving its readers some pure unalderated analysis and reporting based on facts!

Here are some money quotes from the story: "Four months after Hurricane Katrina, analyses suggest that some widely reported assumptions about the storm's victims were incorrect.

For example, a comparison of the locations where 874 bodies were recovered with U.S. Census tract data indicates that the victims were not disproportionately poor.

Another database, compiled by Knight Ridder of 486 Katrina victims from Orleans Parish and neighboring St. Bernard Parish, suggests they also were not disproportionately African American." Below is the link to the story; I recommend you read it.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/nation/13531474.htm

Munich- Three Thumbs Up

This was a good movie for all the reasons King Kong wasn't. Munich had good casting, was well acted, offered a good story line, was only a tad long, and contained much less hand-wringing than I expected (but still a little too much) by the Israeli killers.

My only complaint was Munich lacked some needed testosterone- like you got from the movie Gladiator. In that movie, when the Roman troops were warming up for a big fight, some great stirring music filled the theatre (and I now have the album) and it made you want to run out of the theatre and decapitate the closest Hun or Visigoth!

Munich was a little like watching a bunch of physics students get on the job training as hired hit men. But, I still recommend it to movie-goers. It's better than average!

King Kong-Three Thumbs Down

This was definitely not worth paying to see in the theatre. The casting sucked (Jack Black and Adrian Brody in particular), the one big chase scene with the brontosauruses was ridiculous (they all would have been killed) and the movie was THREE HOURS long!

I will concede the Ape was great and so was the star actress and the fight with the three T-Rexes was good. All in all, I recommend you wait until it comes out on DVD.

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