Thursday night, I was driving home on Route 30, heading east from West Manchester Township, at about 10:30 or so. It was pouring rain. Blinding rain. Route 30 was like a river.
I hit North Hills Road and it was bone dry. The rain didn't taper off. It just went from pouring sheets of rain to nothing. At my house, it was dry. We didn't get any rain at all. Weird.
Harley Davidson won't have an open house during Bike Night this year.
The company said it canceled the open house ongoing restructuring activity at the local plant left the company without enough resources to handle the event.
So the company can find a bazillion dollars to pay its CEO, but a few grand for open house, forget it.
The company has alienated its workers, the community and now its hardcore customers who flock here for Bike Night and the open house.
Way to go, guys.
We have a winner. Carolina Panthers wide receiver Steve Smith on his coach, John Fox:
"I don't think guys are playing and saying, 'Hey, we've got to play for the coach.' Coach isn't sick, he doesn't have a special need, he's made pretty good money -- not to be all up in his fiancial stuff, but -- and he's not driving a beat-up car. He enjoys a nice car, just like I've been fortunate to have, as well, a nice car, and a home and a beautiful family."
He doesn't have a special need?
Regarding the Deepwater oil spill.
The president will take questions about the disaster today, as BP tries to stop the leak by employing a maneuver that is one part Rube Goldberg and one part Three Stooges.
Here is what the president should say:
First, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar is going to be looking for a new job and his replacement will be someone who has experience defending the environment instead of sucking up to oil and gas companies.
Next, all off-shore drilling platforms will be inspected and those found to be out of compliance with federal regulations will be shut down immediately.
Then, no new permits for off-shore drilling will be we issued until we adopt new, stricter regulations. Current drilling platforms will have to adhere to the new rules or be shut down.
Next, we will conduct a thorough investigation of the lack of oversight on behalf of federal regulators on off-shore drilling. Those found to be lax will be seeking new employment.
And, we will ask Congress to lift the limit of damages that can be paid in these types of spills and we will send a battalion of lawyers from the Justice Department to the Gulf to make sure that all of the people whose livelihoods were affected by the spill are justly compensated for their loses.
And finally, we have a lot of people in this country looking for work. Well, there is a lot of work to be done in the Gulf. We will set up a Civilian Conservation Corps-like agency to provide work to whoever wants it to go to the Gulf and clean up this mess. And then, we will send the bill for the cleanup to BP.
That should do it.
UPDATE: This morning, Obama fired Elizabeth Birnbaum, the woman in charge of the U.S. Minerals Management Service. It's a good start.
Well, a lot of things make Del McCoury great. The man is a bluegrass legend who has branched out and expanded what people think of when they think of bluegrass. He's collaborated with Phish and Steve Earle, and has recorded songs by Tom Petty and English guitar wizard Richard Thompson.
"I want to let people know it's all good music," McCoury told the Associated Press. "I'm trying to let 'em know that this music is all related."
Dave Simonett, songwriter and guitarist for Trampled by Turtles, said in an e-mail, "Especially in the bluegrass world, it's hard to find a 'legend' who still has a creative and open mind when it comes to the music he plays and Del seems to have that in spades."
It's all in a story about this weekend's Delfest in Cumberland, Md. Read the story here.
This story, from the Associated Press, describes the North Carolina Republican Party's attempts to derail the candidacy of Tim D'Annunzio, the favored Tea Party candidate in a district now represented by a Democrat. D'Annunzio won the GOP primary in the district, but still faces a run-off against an established Republican candidate.
Why does the GOP fear this guy?
Well, an excerpt from the story:
"In Hoke County divorce records, his wife said in 1995 that D'Annunzio had claimed to be the Messiah, had traveled to New Jersey to raise his stepfather from the dead, believed God would drop a 1,000-mile high pyramid as the New Jerusalem on Greenland and found the Ark of the Covenant in Arizona. A doctor's evaluation the following month said D'Annunzio used marijuana almost daily, had been living with another woman for several months, had once been in drug treatment for heroin dependence and was jailed a couple times as a teenager."
He also describes the government as "the antichrist."
Good luck with that!
Former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne is suing Florida senatorial candidate Charlie Crist over using the song "Road To Nowhere" in a political attack ad.
There is precedent. Jackson Browne sued John McCain in 2008 for using "Running On Empty."
"Road To Nowhere"? "Running On Empty"?
I guess they're political. Listen to "Road To Nowhere" yourself and decide.
This report should not surprise anyone.
"The Lower Windsor Township supervisors approved a plan to build the proposed Lauxmont Meadows development in phases.
"The plan calls for 131 houses to be built on 147 acres along Klines Run Road on Lauxmont Farms' Lakeside West parcel, owned by the Kohr family."
A lot of people are blaming for the former county commissioners, specifically Lori Mitrick and Doug Kilgore, for some of this primo farmland being developed. Yet, it was fully expected.
It's amusing that some of the same people who are blasting the Kohr family for developing this land and angry with Mitrick over it. If you remember, she favored preserving that land.
This week, the Mets had a triple play and an inside-the-park home run in the same game.
And lost.
Now, the question that came to mind: Would you rather go to a game where one team achieves that rare combo or would you rather attend a no-hitter?
Having seen a no-hitter in person, I know the answer. April 4, 2001, I saw the Red Sox Hideo Nomo no-hit the Orioles at Camden Yards. There is nothing like the last few innings of a no-hitter. The ninth inning is like having an out-of-body experience.
Here is the trailer for what it is being considered the best worst movie of all time.
"Troll 2" is indeed horrible/ But as a fan of bad movies, it is the holy grail. Bad acting? Check. Bad writing? Check. Bad direction? Check. Laughably ludicrous special effects? Check. Incredibly stupid to the point of being entertaining in a twisted kind of way? Check.
The film is the subject of a new documentary, called, surprisingly, "Best Worse Movie."
Check it out.
It belongs up on the shelf with such classics as "Manos: Hands of Fate," "The Room" and, of course, "Plan 9 From Outer Space."
New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, a Nobel-prize-winning economist, is at his best when he's explaining macro-economics. In today's column, he fires a warning shot about our economy.
An excerpt:
"But the truth is that policy makers aren't doing too much; they're doing too little. Recent data don't suggest that America is heading for a Greece-style collapse of investor confidence. Instead, they suggest that we may be heading for a Japan-style lost decade, trapped in a prolonged era of high unemployment and slow growth."
And, now, The Vapors:
The Onion does it again. This http://www.theonion.com/articles/report-majority-of-government-doesnt-trust-citizen,17459/, headlined "Report: Majority Of Government Doesn't Trust Citizens Either," is a hysterical send-up of our current political dilemma.
An excerpt:
"All the vitriol and partisan bickering in Congress has caused most Americans to form negative opinions of the U.S. government," Pew researcher Amy Ratner said. "However, over the same time period, the government has likewise grown wary of U.S. citizens, largely due to their utter lack of foresight, laziness, and overall incompetence."
Added Ratner, "And the fact that American Idol is still the No. 1 show on television doesn't exactly make our government burst with confidence."
Funny stuff.
This story has the makings of a pretty good country song.
Drunk guy rips through a farm field and then is hauled to the police cruiser in the front-end bucket of a farm tractor.
Sounds like something Hank Williams III would write.
U.S. Rep. Todd Platts easily turned away a challenge from the right -- although to be fair there's not a heck of a lot of room to the right of Todd -- dispatching Mike Smelzter with ease.
For all of their bluster, the Tea Party candidates didn't fare too well here Tuesday and incumbent Republicans faced little drama in their races. For all the news coverage they get, the Tea Party is still a marginal group.
U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter was laid off by voters yesterday.
For a lot of people, Democrats and Republicans alike, Arlen was always a little too slippery, maneuvering through political minefields with his survival in mind. Well, he finally stepped on one.
It's too bad. Even though a lot of us have had disagreements with Arlen over the years, he has served with distinction and is one of the wise elders in the Senate -- which, as Mike Royko once observed, is akin to being the tallest midget in the circus.
Anyway, one day, I'm sure we'll come to miss Arlen.
And today, I can imagine that at least once person is nursing a hangover from celebrating his political demise -- Anita Hill. Those with long memories will recall Arlen's treatment of her during Clarence Thomas' confirmation hearings some years back.
And perhaps this photo has something to do with Specter's difficulty attracting Democratic voters.
Not the kind who swim i the ocean, the ones with juris doctorates.
The Washington Post reported that lawyers are lining up to sue the bejesus out of BP for the oil spill in the gulf.
An excerpt:
"The law firms now assembling are members of the all-star team of plaintiffs' attorneys. They have experience suing big companies over asbestos, tobacco, oil company waste, breast implants and Chinese drywall. They have represented Ecuadoran shrimp farmers and New York lobstermen, patients who have swallowed Vioxx and investors who lost money on shares of Enron. And their ranks include the likes of Erin Brockovich, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and former partners of Johnnie L. Cochran Jr."
Here is one case where you're cheering the lawyers. As much as people denigrate lawyers, here is an instance where they can do some good, can exact justice from. In short, they can make BP pay.
The dumbing down of American continues unabated in the great state of Texas, where the state school board is gutting U.S. history to match its own weird views.
It could be an isolated incident, but it's not. What happens in Texas usually spreads to the rest of the nation.
As a fan of the work of writer-producer David Simon, this Onion piece cracked me up.
"The Wire," is goes without saying as everybody has said it, was a masterpiece. "Treme," chronicling post-Katrina New Orleans, has been fantastic. And now, "The Township."
Funny stuff. If only...
The latest conventional wisdom is that the United States will go the way of Greece because of government spending.
Not true.
And here's why.
Should read this.
The non-partisan Tax Foundation concludes that current taxes -- all taxes, from income taxes to property taxes to sales taxes -- are at the lowest level since 1959.
Food for thought.
The contractor on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig that is now wreaking havoc in the Gulf of Mexico?
Halliburton.
Is there anything they can't screw up?
But the smart money would bet that Dick Cheney's old company will come out of this mess making a ton of money.
So the Nazis are coming to Gettysburg.
The top pinhead said the group is visiting Civil War battlefields because, well, I'm not sure. It's just that the last group that visited Gettysburg defending the notion of white supremacy got their butts kicked. They were called the Confederacy. You can look it up.
A local woman is collecting hair to sop up the massive oil spill in the gulf.
All righty then. Makes about as much sense as trying to clog up the leak with golf balls and old tires. Which the geniuses at BP are going to try.
This story describes an aspect of the congressional race we are now being graced with with Incumbent Todd Platts facing a primary challenge from Mike Smeltzer, an apparent favorite of the teabaggers.
If it's an indication of howthe teabaggers approach politics, and I think it is, it shows what kind of disaster handing the reins of government to this small band of numbskulls would be.
For instance, as the story says, Smeltzer's campagn is intentionally distorting the process of who would replace Platts should the congressman get the job of Comptroller of the United States, a long shot to be sure.
Smeltzer's campaign has said that Gov. Ed Rendell would select Platts' replacement should that happen.
No.
Rendell's only role would be to set the date for a special election to replace Platts.
It's part of a pattern. Smeltzer's radio ads are full of nonsense. He claims that Platts supported the stimulus package. He didn't. (Of course, this is an issue I disagree with Platts over. I think the stimulus was necessary to prevent the economy from further cratering.)
Now, the candidates can have that debate, even if they are the same side of the issue.
The only thing I can figure is that Smeltzer was critical of Platts' vote to extend unemployment benefits for people who were running out of time. If Smeltzer wants to pledge to cut off unemployment benefits to people out of work, well, good luck with that.
From the Associated Press:
BRECKENRIDGE, Colo.--A Colorado man who claimed he was trying to defend himself from a mugger when he shot himself in the groin has been convicted of illegal discharge of a firearm. Investigators said there was no evidence to substantiate David Leroy Blurton's self-defense claim and jurors convicted the 50-year-old on Wednesday. The shooting happened at the parking lot of a grocery store in Dillon, Colo., on May 2009. Prosecutors say Blurton had been drinking.
Jurors also convicted Blurton of "prohibited use of a weapon--drunk with a gun" and reckless endangerment.
"Drunk with a gun." That's always bad.
BP's chief operating officer appeared on the morning shows to explain what happened with the failed attempt to cap the oil spill in the gulf.
"I wouldn't say it's failed yet," BP chief operating officer Doug Suttles said of the containment box. "What I would say is what we attempted to do ... didn't work."
Yep. That pretty explains it all.
Here is a clip from CNBC and its usually wrong stock tipster and creamer Jim Cramer showing what's happened on Wall Street Thursday.
Good Lord. Our entire economy is based on fiction and the whims of people who acquire wealth by manipulating the market.
You know, somebody should regulate this thing...
Tom and the Heartbreakers have a new record coming out next month. From the preview tracks, it sounds really good.
Here's is one of them:
Paul Krugman, Nobel-prize-winning economist, weighs in on the Greek financial crisis and what it means to the world and U.S. economies. His explanation is lucid, as always.
His column begins:
"So, is Greece the next Lehman? No. It isn't either big enough or interconnected enough to cause global financial markets to freeze up the way they did in 2008. Whatever caused that brief 1,000-point swoon in the Dow, it wasn't justified by actual events in Europe.
"Nor should you take seriously analysts claiming that we're seeing the start of a run on all government debt. U.S. borrowing costs actually plunged on Thursday to their lowest level in months. And while worriers warned that Britain could be the next Greece, British rates also fell slightly.
"That's the good news. The bad news is that Greece's problems are deeper than Europe's leaders are willing to acknowledge, even now -- and they're shared, to a lesser degree, by other European countries."
Interesting stuff and puts a lot of what's going on in the most often perplexing financial markets in context.
A story from today's paper:
Two York County school districts -- Central York and Dover Area -- have been designated as the "Best Communities for Music Education" for the second year in a row.
The National Association of Music Merchandisers released the results of its 11th annual national survey Wednesday, and the two school districts were named among 174 that demonstrate a commitment to providing music education for their students.
Dover Area School District was noted for its well-rounded program at all grade levels, its highly qualified teachers, and its hosting of music festivals, including the Pennsylvania Music Educator's Association District 7 Lower Band festival held earlier this year.
Congrats to Dover and Central. As school face tough choices, music and arts programs are usually the first on the chopping block. Good for them for resisting that and building programs that contribute to the overall education of our kids.
What's going on in Conewago Township?
That's the question a lot of people up there are asking. What's happening is the usual small-town politics that erupt into full-blown controversy now and then.
It just seems to be a personal problem that has spilled over into the public arena. It's fun to watch.
Good piece on Slate regarding the lawsuits filed by state Attorneys General on health care reform. Remember, our own Tom Corbett has joined this effort, which probably has more to do with his campaign for governor than any legal issues he may have with the new law.
The story, written by two legal experts, begins:
"Usually it's Republicans who complain about "lawsuit abuse"--frivolous claims brought without legal merit. And yet that description perfectly fits the two complaints filed by state attorneys general to challenge the new health care reform law as unconstitutional. The Justice Department says it intends to ask the courts for immediate dismissal. If DoJ gets its wish, the courts should also seek sanctions against the politically motivated attorneys general who filed them."
One of the greats passed away. Ernie Harwell started out as an Orioles broadcaster and then moved to Detroit, where he became a legend.
He died Tuesday at 92.
Baseball is poorer today.
Here is a video of his farewell address at Tiger Stadium:
A cartoon from a Pulitzer-prize-winning cartoonist on the Arizona immigration law. Good stuff.
LiveFreePA has been canceled.
The event, scheduled for this weekend in Lancaster County, was to feature free beer, guns, a cannon and free beer.
No reason was given for it being canceled.
I don't know. Free beer and a cannon? What could possibly go wrong?
Hey, looked who rang the opening bell on the stock exchange!
Darth Vader.
You would think that since the rest of the country believes Wall Street is a huge death star waiting to vaporize all of our retirement accounts and jobs and homes and flat-screen TVs, they would have thought twice about that.
Guess not.
And the market closed 225 points down, mostly because of the Greek fiscal crisis.
I think Darth can take some of the blame too.
It really isn't a gun show loophole. It has to do with private sales of long guns, not requiring background checks for people who buy guns from private sellers.
It was tagged the gun show loophole as a kind of shorthand. Still, whether it had anything at all to do with the suicide of a Maryland man outside the gun show at the York Fairgrounds this past Saturday is irrelevant.
The man could have bought the gun anywhere and done the act anywhere. Whether a background check would have saved his life is not known. he would have found a way to end his life.
What remains is we'll never know why the man was in such desperate straits that he sought this kind of end. Hopefully, none of us will fully understand that.
The Philadelphia police tased a guy who ran onto to the field at the ball game yesterday.
There have been some questions as to whether it was necessary to employ the taser.
I don't know. I just know Philly's a tough town.
Had the moron who drove an SUV fulled with explosives tried to do that here in York, he wouldn't have gotten as far.
His car would have been towed away long before anything suspicious could have happened.
So that big thing passed through York County yesterday. All I know about it is it made it difficult to get to the Food Lion Sunday morning.
A bunch of people were out watching the generator creep along. It was entertaining, in a weird kind of way.
U.S. Rep. Todd Platts said he voted against the financial reform bill because it wasn't good enough.
That's about right. But his main objection is little off base.
He objected to the $150 billion fund that would be used to liquidate financial firms that were sinking, tagging a bailout. Yet, it's not a bailout. The fund would be used to shut down the firms without causing harm to the economy.
And the fund would be financed by the financial firms themselves, a kind of insurance, similar to the FDIC.
That's part of the bill that would protect consumers and the rest of us from the predatory practices on Wall Street. Even more important are parts of the bill that would restrict and regulate the kinds of legal thievery that brought about the near collapse of our economic system in 2008.
