July 2010 Archives

And it makes you proud.

Here's the beginning of a story from today's paper about a wounded Marine:

"After Marine Lt. Nathan Jeffcoat was hit by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan on June 30 and traveled back to the states, doctors went looking for him in his hospital room to do physical therapy.

"The Adams County resident, a platoon commander in the 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines, was nowhere to be found.

"Turns out, in true commander fashion, he had escaped and made his way through a quarantined hospital area to check on one of his men who had been injured two weeks before him."

Read the whole story here.

Semper fi, indeed.

This is from a story in today's paper about a guy who was caught allegedly cheating on a drug test:

"In February, a York County probation officer was supervising a urine test by Justin Paul Bupp when he noticed a few strange things.

"Bupp 'was struggling' to produce 'a steady stream of urine' and his penis appeared 'rubbery' with 'an odd color (and) texture. . .,' a county detective reported in Bupp's criminal complaint.

"When he was confronted by the probation officer, Bupp, 20, admitted he had a strap-on prosthetic device he had bought over the Internet for $130 and filled with his own clean urine before using heroin."

There is probably a lot to say about this, but whatever they pay probation officers, it's not enough.

Before the Steve Earle-Hot Tuna show at the Strand last night, a guy was handing out cards advertising a movie playing at the Capitol this weekend, "The Rise And Fall Of Their American Dream."

It's a story about three young men, two immigrants, a Mexican and an Indian, and the nephew of a mob boss. Looks pretty cool, in a Quentin Tarantino kind of way. It's won awards at film festivals in Hoboken and Mexico.

Anyway, the guy handing out the cards was Nash Bhatt. He directed the movie.

He was asking people, "Please come see my movie."

So, go see this guy's movie. It plays Saturday at 1 and 4 p.m.

Saw Hot Tuna and Steve Earle at the Strand last night.

Excellent show. Steve Earle played a long solo acoustic set. The guy can write some songs and has a weird sense of humor. He played a tune about having a good time in the self-destructive zone and when he finished he said, "That song makes it sound like a lot more (bleeping) fun that it was. So whenever I play that song, I have to play this one. Welcome to my world." Then, he played a tune about the damage done.

Hot Tuna was electric. Jorma and Jack, of course, joined by Barry Mitterhoff on mandolin and G.E. Smith. Learned, via Jorma, that G.E.'s first name is George.

Before the show, the Strand CEO said he'd like feedback. How's this: More shows like this one. Here's a list of artists: Los Lobos, John Hiatt, Richard Thompson, the Drive-By Truckers, the BoDeans, Son Volt, the Black Keys, Hayes Carll, Hank III...

I could probably think of others, but that would be a good start.

Being the tech experts we are, we were able to quickly troubleshoot the problem and get right back to it.

It took extensive testing and such. Turned out to be dead batteries.

So this week, the team tackles spiders on a boat, Asian carp, Asian tiger mosquitoes and tigers and assorted bad guys in our town.

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So Harley announces that its net income tripled from last year.

That's good news.

I'm wondering, then, if the company plans to call back any of its laid-off workers or make up some of he concessions its union workers gave back to keep their jobs.

Jeez. Who am I kidding?

The Farm & Natural Lands Trust of York County is having what they're calling a downtown hoedown to raise money.

You know, that could be taken a couple of different ways.

For more information, go here. It sounds like a good time. They booked Waitin On A Train and those guys are a lot of fun.

Former Penn State quarterback Daryl Clark signed to play in Calgary in the Canadian Football League, our own Frank Bodani reports.

Good luck, Daryl. I thought he had the makings of an NFL quarterback. He has more talent that a lot of quarterbacks now starting in the NFL. Perhaps a season or two in Canada will help him develop that talent.

Remember, Warren Moon started in the CFL. He turned out to be pretty good.

Last week, finally, BP was able to stop the gusher at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico.

And now, oil is seeping from other spots in the sea bed.

From the AP:

"The seal atop BP's well was applied Thursday, and appeared to stop all of the oil from leaking into the Gulf for the first time in 85 days.

"But the federal government is worried that it could create problems of its own. Specifically, if the well's underground pipes are cracked, the seal could exacerbate the flow of oil through them and up to the sea floor, creating a potentially unmanageable multitude of leaks."

It's always something,,,

My Monday column is about a guy who had his car towed, apparently by mistake, from a lot near Sovereign Bank Stadium. He has a handicapped placard and was towed from a handicapped lot. The tow truck driver told him he didn't see the placard and said the guy had to pay $220 to get his car back.

Clearly, the tow truck driver -- employed, of course, by Intown Motors -- made a mistake. Instead of admitting the mistake and giving the guy his car back, Intown remained steadfast. The guy had to pay.

I bring this up because there was a story in today's paper about a bill that would require towing companies to notify people when their cars are towed.

As it is, towing in Pennsylvania is not regulated. This is a good first step to get at predatory towing companies, but more regulation is necessary. How about giving car owners some rights when their cars are towed by mistake?

The What Have We Learned team responds to the breaking news that these two kids have gotten back together and are going to get married.

Good times.

That and jokes about the heat, goats and people acting strange in Dover Township.

This story, from the AP:

PERTH, Australia--A man ejected from a pub in Australia broke into a zoo and climbed onto the back of a crocodile named Fatso, which bit him on the leg but then let him go. Police said they're surprised the croc didn't inflict worse damage. The 36-year-old man, who police said had just been thrown out of a pub for being drunk, told officials he scaled the barbed wire fence surrounding the Broome Crocodile Park in remote northwest Australia on Monday night because he wanted to give the 16-foot Fatso a pat.

I know some Aussies, hung out with a bunch during a Harley ride to Milwaukee a few years back. This story seems about right.

Here's the Boss on "Seinfeld."

Funny guy. Had a sense of humor about himself.

This is from writer Tom Scocca's blog on Slate:

"This vehicle is a joyless piece of slag. Driving it is like sitting on top of a refrigerator while it is being pushed by a guy who can't see around it. These absurd trucks made six million people feel like they were buying something strong and safe? You can feel it trying to roll over as soon as you put the key into it. It is the only thing you can feel, because everything else about the car is like a novocaine enema.

"The Ford Explorer is an awful vehicle. America is stupider, and a little more dead, for having produced and driven it."

I'm guessing he didn't like it. Novocaine enema?

Well, he's free to move about, the Swiss having rejected the U.S. request to extradite him to face prison on his conviction for raping a child.

I guess the lesson is if you're going to commit a heinous crime, make a few good movies and all will be forgiven.

From Texas:

HOOD COUNTY -- A small North Texas community is getting stirred up about some mysterious animals roaming around.

Two creatures have been killed in three days, near farms, only a few miles apart. Some are calling them chupacabras; even animal control officers are unsure what they are.

In his 25 years, David Hewitt has seen plenty of varmints running around, but nothing like the animal he shot on Friday.

"I had no idea what it could be," he said.

He shot it when it came too close to his cattle. "From a distance, he looked like a hairless chihuahua, only much bigger," Hewitt said.

His only conclusion? "From all indications, it seemed to be a chupacabra."

Chupacabra is an exotic name for a mythical blood-sucking creature.

"The claws, toenails, nothing like I've seen on a coyote. Skinny, pointed tail; sure looks like a possum to me," Hewitt said. "Never seen any kind of animal that doesn't have hair on it."

Read the whole story here.

Somehow, the Mexicans are to blame for this.

Next time someone mentions that allowing lower-middle-class people to buy homes was the cause of the mortgage crisis, show them this story from the New York Times.

An excerpt:

"More than one in seven homeowners with loans in excess of a million dollars are seriously delinquent, according to data compiled for The New York Times by the real estate analytics firm CoreLogic."

The myth has been circulating that extending mortgages to working people was the cause of the mortgage meltdown. It's not the case. For one thing, loans extended under the Community Redevelopment Act have a lower rate of delinquency than higher loans. And those lenders were not permitted to give people sub-prime mortgages, which led the way in the meltdown.

A whale washed up on the beach in Ocean City, Md.

Which gives me the excuse to post this video. Enjoy.

A story from the Lancaster Intelligencer begins:

He stole the two goats to make his girlfriend happy, the Martic Township man told the judge.

But after a couple days, Calvin J. Flahart shot and killed the stolen goats, named "Billy," and "Junior."

Lancaster County Judge Dennis Reinaker accepted Flahart's guilty plea to cruelty to animals charges on Thursday, but he wanted to know why the goats had to be killed.

"They were not nice goats," Flahart answered. "They head-butted my truck."

Goats. Read the story here.

So last night, the question every living man, woman and child was answered. LeBron James is going to Miami.

It struck me as kind of weird. The guy had his own TV special -- of course, donating the proceeds to the Boys and Girls Clubs -- to announce that he was going to be paid more money than God to play basketball.

This at a time when working men and woman are struggling to keep up and millions of our fellow citizens can't find jobs.

And you have to feel bad for the city of Cleveland. LeBron, near as I can tell, is 90 percent of the city's economy.

Now, I don't begrudge LeBron for taking the money. If that's what the Miami Heat wants to pay him, more power to him. But it just struck me as decadent that the entire world seemed to be orbiting this multi-millionaire. I'm sure LeBron is a decent enough guy and he seems like a good person. But still...

We're becoming the ancient Romans. Our circuses, though, are pretty cool.

That Transocean, the operator of the Deepwater Horizon well that is now lubricating the Gulf Coast, created the catastrophe in the Gulf.

Apparently, the company is internationally known for, well, being evil.

From today's New York Times:

"Human rights advocates have called for an investigation into Transocean's recent dealings in Myanmar. They cite its involvement in a drilling project that apparently included a company that is suspected of having ties to two men accused of laundering money for Myanmar's repressive government, which is under United States trade sanctions.

"Transocean has disclosed in Securities and Exchange Commission filings that its drilling equipment was shipped by a forwarder through Iran and that until last year it held a stake in a company that did business in Syria. The State Department says Syria and Iran sponsor terrorism.

"In Norway, Transocean is the subject of a criminal investigation into possible tax fraud. The company has said in S.E.C. filings that Norwegian officials could assess it about $840 million in taxes and penalties. The filings also said that a final ruling against Transocean could have a 'material impact' on the company, which has suffered a drop in its stock price of more than 40 percent since the Gulf of Mexico incident.

"And in the United States, a federal bankruptcy judge recently found that one of Transocean's merger partners had repeatedly abused the legal system to try to avoid potential liability in a pollution case in Louisiana. Transocean is also the target of tax inquiries in the United States and Brazil."

Money laundering, tax fraud, dealing with countries that sponsor terrorism.

Sounds like the mob to me.

Read the whole story here.

Driving home during the power outage was more fun than sticking a pencil in your eye.

About half the lights on Route 30 were out, as were a lot of lights on other roads. The good news is that people were good about it, driving carefully and being decent to other drivers -- as far as I was able to experience.

My wife asked, What did people do before electricity?

They sweated. And you can only imagine what traffic was like then, except it was horses.

This week, the What Have We Learned team cracks wise about food fights, Iranian haircuts and Satanic marshmallow treats.

And it's hot out. It's so hot we can't come up with any jokes about how hot it is.

Mr. Ed's burned over the weekend. If you'd never been to the place, you really missed something. The elephant museum was very cool and Mr. Ed -- aka Ed Gotwalt -- is a character. You've probably seen him at the York Fair, where his stand under the grandstand has been a staple for decades.

Hope he rebuilds. His place is one of those roadside attractions that makes this area, and this country, special.

Mr. Ed is bummed. "It's just stuff, but some of the stuff you want to keep," he said.

We reported:

A food fight at a Hopewell Township restaurant turned violent last month, according to Pennsylvania State Police.

Police said in a news release that Steven Michael Peters, 22, of New Freedom, and Joseph Culver Boyd, 19, of Stewartstown, were both charged with harassment following the incident at the Cracker Barrel, 13600 Wolfe Road.

On June 28, the two were working in the kitchen at the restaurant when Boyd began to throw food around the kitchen, hitting Peters with various pieces of food, police said.

Peters said that "the next person to hit him with food is going to get it," police said. Boyd's response was to walk up to Peters and press food against his face, police said.

Peters then pushed Boyd against a wall and began punching him in the face, police said.

"Both victims are no longer employed at Cracker Barrel," police said.

What's next? Toga parties at Cracker Barrel?

That is, if you define liberal as favoring government spending to stimulate the economy.

From Gallup:

"PRINCETON, NJ -- Among four pieces of legislation Congress could consider this year, Americans are most supportive of authorizing more economic stimulus spending. Specifically, according to a June 11-13 USA Today/Gallup poll, 60% of Americans say they would favor 'additional government spending to create jobs and stimulate the economy.'"

Read about the poll here.

Not to mention the humidity.

Stay cool out there.

On the positive side, all of my grass is dead. A week off from mowing.

Let's see...Attempts to pass an extension of unemployment insurance to help people who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own fails because some congresscritters think it should be paid for.

That is unconscionable at a time when long-term unemployment is very high and the economy hasn't gotten around to creating jobs. How many people will lose their homes? How many people will have to suffer?

This Congress doesn't have a problem bailing out billionaire thieves on Wall Street, but when it comes to helping our neighbors -- people who are victims of the thievery of those Wall Street goons -- it turns tail.

And the reasoning doesn't hold. Congress approved $80 billion to fund the war in Afghanistan without demanding that it was paid for by other cuts or tax increases. (Paying for our excellent adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan has contributed to our fiscal mess. Remember the past eight years?)

Where are the Tea Party people complaining about this?

Are we heading toward a Dickensian future? Are there no workhouses? Are there no prisons?

Disgusting.