PSoTD

Worst final episode since Seinfeld.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip, June 29 — A Mickey Mouse look-alike who preached Islamic domination on a Hamas-affiliated children's television program was beaten to death in the show's final episode Friday.

In the final skit, the character Farfour was killed by an actor posing as an Israeli official trying to buy Farfour's land. At one point, the mouse called the Israeli a "terrorist."

"Farfour was martyred while defending his land," said Sara, the teen presenter.

For activities concerning illegal fireworks to hit the news:

California: Illegal fireworks found in Visalia home; teen arrested

Colorado: Fireworks illegal in Aurora

Connecticut: Police confiscate illegal fireworks

New Jersey: Seizures of fireworks are skyrocketing in N.J.

New York: As Fourth Of July Approaches, City Cracks Down On Fireworks

Wisconsin: Police plan crackdown on illegal fireworks displays

For college students at California State University, Sacramento seems to have been considerably diminished.

I sure have good memories of beer floating on the river.

Young Galaxy - Swing Your Heartache

There's not getting it ... and then there's Philly Mayor John Street.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Mayor John F. Street abruptly ended his wait in line for an iPhone Friday after a passer-by asked him about the city's murder rate.

Street, who showed up outside an AT&T store at 3:30 a.m., left shortly after a 22-year-old sporting a mohawk asked him, "How can you sit here with 200 murders in the city already?" The Philadelphia Inquirer reported on its Web site.

Street told the man: "I'm doing my job," the newspaper said.

Street had planned to stay in line for most of the day, waiting for Apple Inc.'s iPhone to go on sale at 6 p.m. When he left at 11:30 a.m., Street said he planned to return to his spot.

The mayor said he wants the new device because he loves trying out the latest technology. Apple's new handheld would allow him to work some of the day outside the office, he said.

"We don't have to be sitting in City Hall to be conducting city business," he said.

Supply your own punchline.

I wish I could say otherwise, but I am not impressed with Obama:

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama laid out list of political shortcomings he sees in the Bush administration but said he opposes impeachment for either President George W. Bush or Vice President Dick Cheney.

Obama said he would not back such a move, although he has been distressed by the "loose ethical standards, the secrecy and incompetence" of a "variety of characters" in the administration.

Why in the world would you remove an option before facts are known? Again, first you investigate, if the investigation brings out such crimes that are necessary for further action, then you look at impeachment. What's most disappointing about Obama's statement is that it is political, rather than legal, in tone. His approach is about what is expedient rather than keeping an open mind towards what is best for the nation in the long-term. Bleh.

Weird. I get a computer-generated phone call stating to be a survey from freeanncoulter.com, with some BS about trying to find out the attitudes of "true Americans". It asked two questions:

Do I plan to vote in 2008? (Yes)
Do I think the news media is too liberal? (No)

That was it - apparently my "no" answer was the cue to end the computer-driven survey. Or maybe that was all there was to the survey, and it's just a ploy to drive people to her site in an effort to increase readership or show popularity or something.

Regardless... very creepy. What kind of list would have my phone number on it that would be sold to her for her purposes?

The Democrats want to expand the successful State Childrens Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP). Bush counters with his pat answer to everything - tax breaks.

The Democratic lawmakers have focused their efforts this year on expanding the State Children's Health Insurance Program. The program was established in 1997 to help families with incomes too high to qualify for Medicaid but not high enough for private insurance.

Democrats have proposed adding $50 billion in new spending to SCHIP over five years. The president made it clear that he opposes such an expansion. His budget recommended adding $4.9 billion. He and his advisers called the coming fight over how much to expand the program a decisive moment in health care - a moment that could lead to more government-sponsored coverage or more coverage through the private sector.

My name was once pulled out of a hat to attend a dinner party with the very rich President and founder of a company I worked for. During the course of the evening, the subject of Reagan's tax cuts came up. The head honcho's mildly disdainful comment was "you have to make it first".

That's the bottom line. Tax breaks are great for people who can already afford health insurance. But those who can't are going to be tempted to use any tax benefits they get on more pressing day-to-day expenses and keep their fingers crossed that they and their kids don't get sick.

S-CHIP works. Expanding this program is a winner for the Democrats and most importantly a winner for children.

Feed your head!

Oh, Sacramento Kings, first Reggie Theus, and now picking a nonathletic center with the first round pick... a little deja vu is okay, but this is a bit much...

I liked Julian Wright with this pick. I guess we'll see...

Corner kid Rich Lowry peers ahead to 2008 ...

There's really not much more damage that Democrats can do to Bush with this stuff. What are they going to do? Take him from 29% to 27%? But they can further cement their own role in the ongoing saga Inside the Beltway called, "Everything Everyone Hates About Washington." Republicans can hope after another year-and-a-half of this both parties will have unpopular high-profile symbols, Bush for the Republicans and Congress for the Democrats. That will make a little wider the best opening a Republican presidential candidate is likely going to have in '08 ...

Lowry makes a damn good point. Bush is done, toast, kaput. He's already destined to go down in history as the most incompetent, reviled President ever. And he no longer has the support to f*ck up anything else. As satisfying as it might be, it would be counterproductive to spend the next eighteen months kicking his rotting carcass around Washington

Where is the Democratic resume of accomplishments to run on in 2008??

I'd like to see the Democratic Presidential candidates begin to debate press coverage of the President's office. Among the things I think should be discussed:

How access to the President should be provided to the press;
Whether organizations such as WHCA should be involved in determining who is and isn't "credentialed";
Whether there should be floating access for news media from outside the Beltway that can have interval access as part of the White House press coverage. There are 48 months in a Presidential term. There are 50 states. Is it so hard to give 3-4 journalists per state a month of daily access?

I don't think candidates should be afraid of discussing the journalistic access issue during the campaign - in fact, I think it's beneficial to the rest of the public to hear details of it. It is a big part of the problem in Washington, and the only way it is going to be changed if it is confronted.

I think it's going to take a while to get used to these.

At the end of August our daily trips to The Children's Garden in Shiremanstown will end as our youngest will be entering public elementary school. We've been there over 10 years, and our kids have flourished there. But starting at the end of August, both kids will be getting on the bus half a block from the house, ending my decade-long 4.5 mile, 20 minute round trip which occurred probably an average of 5 times per week (my wife usually picked them up on the way home, but not always, and much of the 10 years the kids went 4 days per week).

So I did some calculations of what that little trip has been:

2600 trips. 11,700 miles. 52,000 minutes - 866 hours. That's over 20 40-hour work weeks. What will I do with these resources over the next 10 years?

Pam's House Blend has an interesting theory of the evolution of John Edwards' thinking about full marriage equality.

It would bum me out if my old high school was sinking...

Here's your chance to weigh in on the World Album Covers Ever!

Hey Mark and Dean, check it out, now you know!

Will the Loonie soon be worth the same as the U.S. dollar?

Yes, PBS and the Tavis Smiley show need to answer the question: who decided to hire Frank Luntz to provide post-forum analysis of the Democratic presidential candidates.

41% of Americans answered 'Yes' to the question "Do you think Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq was directly involved in planning, financing, or carrying out the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001. This is one of the most disturbing stats you can find about this country, because it's evidence of willful ignorance on current events most impacting our country. It's irresponsible for that 41% to expect the other 59% to carry them in the practice of civil discourse and social discussion, and it's immoral for them to think they should be part of the debate. If they want to be part of the discussion of the future of this country, they owe the country a much, much better grip on reality than that.

Freakin' Chinese tires.

So when will the game show "Are You Smarter Than Bill O'Reilly" happen?

No more masks for professional political pundits on television. If you're going to go on television and give your political "expertise" then no hiding your face behind sunglasses. Eyes are used by humans as they determine the validity of a given message. Unless there's a physical reason to the contrary, if a professional political pundit can't show their eyes while casting their political beliefs, they shouldn't be on television.

Why do you think it was over a year between the time Ann Coulter was on Hardball last and her appearance on the show yesterday?

What the hell...? Oh, just another bizarre side-effect from Silvio Berlusconi...

I'm not sure, other than Carraba's and Outback, that there will be a reason for me to go into that shopping center in Hampden Township after September since OfficeMax is now moving out of there at that time also. I was wondering how long they were going to try to be the anchor to that dying shopping area...

Next month I'm sure I'll see plenty of Javelinas on Parade.

To paraphrase Bush's comment about terrorists - if you support hatemongers with your show and associate with hatemongers, then you're just as bad as they are. Ann Coulter has absolutely nothing of value to say to the American public. Let her speak to the shit-for-brains that attend whatever conferences she's invited to speak at all she wants, but quit giving her a public venue to insult the intelligence of the American people.

BTW Ann, nice cowardly approach to wear sunglasses on your interview so the American people can't see your scared eyes.

For my friend Christine, whose memories of this program may indicate a problem...

First let me admit that I'm not all that well-versed on this subject. But could somebody please explain to me how it makes any sense to make it easier for illegal immigrants to gain citizenship? I don't see how that does anything but encourage more illegal immigration. I'm fine with raising the legal quotas but giving the illegals any sort of break is just going to encourage more illegal immigration. Isn't it?

I can't stand finding myself agreeing with Limbaugh and Hannity. Help!

I think there's a lot to digest and appreciate in Senator Richard Lugar's speech from yesterday, and I'd strongly recommend anyone go read it. Essentially, it's a call for Americans to grow up, for partisans to grow up, to realize just how fucked up a situation we're in now, and that we can't rely on partisan battle cries to get us out of it. And if we continue to rely on the binary choices currently discussed about Iraq, we're doomed for even greater disaster. I don't agree with all of it, but I find a lot of useful approach and thought here, and most importantly, the idea of the timeline being NOW to move on from the "surge" to something that actually might make sense for the entire world, including the United States, as opposed to just trying to run out the clock on Bush's failed presidency.

Unfortunately, this speech probably requires another speech for the more appropriate oomph it should get, and probably from a leading Democrat, perhaps someone like Al Gore, and the message, although similar, should be this: the news media has to grow up. The idea that this speech is equal to, or lesser than, the release of Paris Hilton in importance is preposterous, but that is exactly how the amount and focus of news coverage is treating it. And if it wasn't Hilton, it would be the murders in Ohio, or the pro wrestling murder/suicide, or anything else that would keep the news media from presenting the news that would require viewers or readers to actually use some brain cells. We'll never know if we could have averted this disaster in Iraq if we had a functioning news media with a reasonable semblance of professional curiousity and citizen priority. We didn't have enough of that then, and we don't have it enough of it now. America is not going to grow up as long as we have a news media that prefers a viewership state of infantilism.

And so, someone has to bullypulpit the news media to grow up, do its job and report the news that is important, discuss the future that is important, and reduce the mindboggling crap they've become addicted to pushing. Linking it to the piss poor coverage so far of Lugar's speech would be a good idea.

Can I say that? Gay conservative pundit Andrew Sullivan can! Sounds like it should have been the title of Warren Zevon's follow-up to "Werewolves of London". Aaah-oooooooo!

PS - The blog entry had something to do with a rather tepid incident at a mostly gay fundraising event for Hillary in Leftcoastia. Excitable Andrew.

So he finally says it's time for the U.S. to change course away from the "surge" and to a different approach in Iraq and the Middle East. I'm waiting for the first conservative blogger to begin the demonization of Lugar. I see that Instapundit is tiptoeing to the line, with a faint brush casting Lugar as unhelpful in the least, tossing the line that "Our political class isn't known for bravery or discipline."

Not that I really disagree with that sentiment - if our political class was known for bravery or discipline, we wouldn't be in Iraq in the first place.

Thank you.

Pennsylvania's apples might be in higher demand this year.

Tennessee isn't the only Southern state seeing a drought. Many of our neighbors are also feeling the burn.

"South Carolina lost 95 percent of their peaches, is what we were told. That's why the price is driven up," Fox says. "They'll see prices driven up on other things, too."

As Southern states demand fruit from other regions, the price could shoot up even more.

Shoppers who normally buy from the Fruit and Berry Patch in Halls could see more apples from Pennsylvania and northern Virginia, rather than those grown from north Knoxville trees.

Of course, with the exception of the storm last week, it has seemed like we in Pennsylvania are in a very dry period as well. Central PA is 3 to 4 inches of rainfall behind average over the last 60 days.

One last thing - I didn't realize that AccuWeather had blogs!

Tank on Empty might have the answer.

This sure sounds like a waste of money.

We have a company credit card. However, I applied for a different credit card - I'd like to transfer our account to a lower interest rate card. Today I received a nice little letter from Citi Cards that they could not approve our account because...

"The credit report shows the company is no longer in business."

What kind of credit report would that be? According to Citi Cards, that would be Dun & Bradstreet. Very strange. We've been in business for 11 years, and we've used credit since sometime in the mid 1990s... with positive revenue growth and showing profit and paying taxes and payrolls and everything else a business does, so how could we not be seen as being in business? Well, other than not paying some sort of fee for a "credit building" program?

Some in New York state want to lead the way for the new era of positive lobbyist public relations:

These are hard times for lobbyists, at least when it comes to public perception. The City Council is moving to limit their campaign contributions. Some top aides to Gov. Eliot Spitzer are letting it be known that hiring a lobbyist might not help one’s case in Albany. Even the movies portray them as soulless influence peddlers.

So these days, when some of the most powerful lobbyists in New York City get together in private, they talk about the insults they are hearing and attacks they are feeling from all sides. Some have suggested banding together to change their image, to spread the word that they are not bad people. Perhaps even ... hire a lobbyist.

"I think the problem is the public image," said Sid Davidoff, one of the elders among the lobbying elite. "If you don’t address it, then you’ll never change it."

Note to these lobbyists: paid advertising won't succeed against the constant stream of negative REAL news about lobbyists. If lobbyists want the public to have a higher view of them, the first thing they need to do is actively pursue a cleaning of their own profession and promote much greater public visibility of activities by their profession.

Of the Ford Freestyle. Especially the part about not buying Ford again...

Ford has used poor brakes and tires on this vehicle; I replace mine at 30K. FORD tells me that they are not covered in the so called "Bumper-Bumper" warranty. (I wonder why brakes are not between the bumpers?) I never replaced brakes/tires on any new vehicle in the past before 50-60K miles. I am concerned about the over longevity of the vehicle from my experience with these items. I have been loyal FORD owner of 6 new ones in the past 2 decades, but this may be the last one I’ll buy.

So, I wake up at 6 AM on Sunday morning, go downstairs to make some coffee and I turn the television on. There's Tim Russert, being interviewed by somebody, about his book(s) concerning his Dad and fatherhood. I hear him say the same things I have heard him say 4 or 5 times earlier, something along the lines of:

and I get these letters, from liberals and conservatives, from Republicans and Democrats alike, and they're all saying, your Dad's values were my Dad's values! And blahtiddy blah blah blah...

And it occurred to me how little Tim Russert is actually like a newsman, and how much he's like the early morning paid commercial programming hosts - you know, those infomercials. He's selling "Russert Values" as something value-added in his books. There's very little difference between him and this guy as Russert's out there pitching his wares...

No disrespect to Tim Russert's dad, but honestly, I'm not impressed by Russert to find any reason Russert might recommend to read a book about the values his father held. I believe there's value in looking at commonalities of how we are/were raised. I don't believe there's much value in having someone try to "brand" it. And I also think it's important to look at the differences, too.

Yes, it DID rain hard here last week...

Melanie at Just a Bump in the Beltway saw fit to include me in a little blog tag meme. And I thought she liked me...

1. All right, here are the rules. 2. We have to post these rules before we give you the facts. 3. Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves. 4. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules. 5. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

So, here's 8 true things about me, although I can't say they're truly interesting.

I am a true baseball geek. Yeah, I play in a fantasy tabletop baseball league, and what's more, it's based on historical performances of all players for all seasons. I started playing in 1924 (the season, not the year) and we play about three shortened seasons a year. Currently we're playing 1966. There is no possible way of describing this to make it sound cool to a non-baseball geek.

My fashion goal is to stay within a 34-inch waist pants.

I like to melt my ice cream from the freezer for about 8 seconds in the microwave before eating it.

If I was forced to go back 25 years ago and re-select my study for college, I would choose entomology.

I go to a coffee shop almost every day as part of my routine.

I lived in California for 20 years. I do not miss living in California in the least.

Someday I want to take our kids to the Pantanal region of Brazil and spend some time on a butterfly tour.

I'd fly to England to hear Kate Bush in concert.

Okay, now I get to the fun part - tagging 8 bloggers. Here goes:

Uncle Horn Head
Toad in the Hole
Ellroon
Motherlode
Lab Kat
Michael at Content
A Big Fat Slob
The Crone Speaks

Enjoy!

I bought a case of Stella Artois yesterday. It's probably my favorite hot weather brew. I don't get it that often because of the price. But they had a real nice deal down at Westy's - $24.99 a case instead of the usual $30.99.

When I got home, I poured up a tall pilsner glass full and was perplexed to come up almost an inch short of the rim! Turns out they were only 11.2 ounce bottles instead of the traditional twelve. When did this happen? No wonder the price was so sweet. Of course, good old Westy didn't highlight the smaller bottle size just the bucks off.

Actually I really don't mind trading off the .8 ounce for the six dollar savings. But can't say I care for the aesthetics of a short pour. Feels like having a chintzy bartender. If this is the coming trend, guess I'll have to get new pilsner glasses.

As a family that owns a Freestyle, we're wondering about the company.

Our daughter just completed the week of Kanaskie Girls Basketball Camp, held at Cumberland Valley High School. She loved it - and from what I can tell from the other parents, so did the rest of the girls. Great week, I just wish they held another one at the end of summer - I'm sure our daughter would want to do that also.

So, in honor of the past week, here's a bit of "basketball camp bloggin..."

In Pursuit of Strange

I’ve been traveling a lot lately and spent some time at a youth basketball camp at a big-time university. This particular school has a major college basketball program and the players are very active in the camp.

It was inspiring to see these athletes giving something back, working so attentively and patiently with the kids and teaching them the game.

Bob & Sandra's Place

Today is Katie's last day of basketball camp. She's been coming home every day from it exhausted, but she's ready to go back each morning. I think she has enjoyed it. Sandra left work early today to go up to the school and watch Katie play.

Taylor Coppenrath

Summer is officially here and what better way to celebrate and combat summertime boredom than with a treasure hunt? Beginning June 28th Professional Basketball player, Taylor Coppenrath will be located at area attractions and offering clues to his whereabouts on his blog (taylorcoppenrath.blogspot.com). When you’ve figured out his location you can meet him there for an evening of fun! Kids (and adults) across the state can participate in four separate treasure hunts with one huge prize- - free admission to Taylor Coppenrath’s Summer Slam Basketball Camp. Not to mention four opportunities to hang out with Vermont’s favorite basketball player! Each child who successfully finds Taylor will be entered to win a free week at his basketball camp.

Glen Woods

I turned the lights out. I put the balls away. The echoes of cheering, squeaking shoes and bouncing balls resonated in my memory. Alone I stood, gazing across the darkened, empty gymnasium. The boys and girls had gone home, but the images of their hard work remained. I smiled. I remembered. I remember. I smile. Joyful sadness has a poignant flavor of hope, helping me to realize that soon I will see the children again. I also hope that those who were new to our church will have opportunity to take part in Power Club Kids.

Contentment in a week well spent is a satisfying conclusion to four evenings of intense coaching. The laughter, smiles, frustration and aches and pains give way to a certainty that life lessons found fertile soil in the imaginations of the participants. Friendships were forged by our brief time together. Latent talents were discovered. New opportunities are now being considered for the days to come.

Jeanette's Corner

Kaitlyn has been attending basketball camp this week. It runs Monday through Thursday in the afternoons. It’s for girls ages 9 to 15 years of age and let me tell you, she can keep up with the big girls. Funny enough, the camp is held at Corona del Sol, my alma mater. So strange it was to walk through the gym again. Back then it seemed so big and looking at it now it seems so small.

Yep, it's all good stuff.

I just had to use that term since it's so widely hated by the non-blogosphere. Why can't they make a list of the most hated words used to describe dunderheads? Maybe non-blogosphere would make it...

(hat tip: Gort42)

Hey, you Australian aborigines, no booze and no porn for you! But it's for your own good, Howard swears.

Worm Watch 2007!!!!!

I see a new movie from the producers of Snakes on a Plane: I was forced to sit next to human excrement for seven hours!

This was foreseeable, and Democrats should try to force Lieberman's hand in every election in the country. C'mon, Joe, support ALL the Republicans openly, not just in private.

Blogs, federal style.

Sure seems like a lot of turnover on that AFI list of the 100 Greatest Movies of the 20th Century in just 10 years.

Mimus Pauly gets more response on his questions of the day than I do. Must be my questions.

Or whatever the airlines are calling them, what they ought to call them is practically worthless because of all the flight restrictions and requirements involved. And the miles just disappear if not used over an ever-shortening period of time.

It was no idle question about credit cards yesterday. We've decided to dump our credit card that offers mileage for a cash-back rewards card. We pay it off every month, so interest is less of an issue.

Their 10 year anniversary festival is coming up July 16 - 22, 2007. There are three main categories for the world championship:

Brush/Sponge
Airbrush
Special Effects

as well as in one special category, the night contest for UV effects. Good luck!

There's lots of credit card programs out there, with giveaways and other bells and whistles. If you were looking to use just one credit card, what program would you choose?

I don't understand the obsession about polls about Congress. Congress was not constructed to be a popular place, Congress was constructed to provide a place for compromise between conflicting political opinions, and in the case of where opinion is very conflicted, nobody is going to be very happy with the results. This article points out the history. So why is this news?

Conservatives are unhappy because they're not in power. Republicans are unhappy because we've finally reached a time where Congress will do its job and investigate the activities of an executive branch run amok. Those against the Iraq War are unhappy because Congress hasn't been able to do anything. Those who support the War are unhappy because Congress keeps hinting it will do something. The state of the nation is still screwed, frankly, and will be until the worst President in history is removed from office and replaced with something smarter than a hammer, and there doesn't seem to be anything Congress can or will do about that, either.

So, what is there to be happy about with the Congress? It is an institution basically following its constructed design, and not showing the ability to go beyond that construction. Are we going to change the design? No. So, why are we polling about design? It's an incredible waste of time.

What polls should be about - that is, if they want to provide some content that is actually useful to Americans - is about the American situation and policies going forward. Please, please, let's stop with the popularity contest polling - in normal times, it would just statistical masturbation for psuedowonks. But in these very troubled times, it also serves as news noise for Bush apologists - they use it as a jumping point to blame "government", not the policies that the current Administration is pursuing. Can't Gallup see that?

Anyone in Pennsylvania with growing kids has to be interested in that.

Yeah, it might be the most entertaining thing about him ever, if he were to be sued for faking his own death. Of course, it might be the only entertaining thing about him ever, too.

I think one of the best things about choosing Reggie Theus as coach of the Sacramento Kings is that it gives the Kings a chance to build upon their history in the community. Reggie was the first fan favorite on the team, even though he wasn't in Sacramento long. He was stuck on some horrible teams - do you remember Joe Kleine, Brook Steppe, Othell Wilson, Joe Arlauckas? Reggie Theus probably does - he played with them in Sacramento.

It was pretty surprising to me how the Kings - and their losing ways - would fill up the old Arco Arena in the 1980s. We had season tickets, and the big appeal was that they were great seats to watch Jordan, Magic, Larry Bird, and all the other league's superstars. But after a while, we realized that we had a pretty snazzy scorer in town with Reggie.

And now he's back. I think it will be good for the Kings.

I tend to agree with upyernoz that a Bloomberg independent run for President is DOA, at least as far as putting him in the White House.

What's worse, I tend to agree with this assessment:

Several analysts argued that a three-way race with Mr. Bloomberg running as a third-party candidate could ultimately prove more of a threat to Democrats than to Republicans. Until he ran for mayor in 2001, Mr. Bloomberg was a lifelong Democrat, and his success in New York reflected his ability to draw Democratic votes: he is for abortion rights, gay rights and gun control.

I really see no benefit to America by having Bloomberg run. He can't win, he has no plank I can see that he can (or will) uniquely push, and he will only serve to dilute the actual choice we have for the office. I hope he is just stirring the pot for attention and has no real intention of running.

Thirty seconds of aural torture.

Some of them are disappearing.

Anyone who has sat in the darkness of the small amphitheater at American Players Theater near Spring Green and enjoyed a Shakespearian play probably remembers the beauty and the mystery of the whip-poor-will's call. The song echoes from the nearby woods during plays and is one of those things mentioned fondly by those who make a visit to the theater an annual summer event.

Yet a landmark report Thursday from the National Audubon Society raised the possibility of a landscape absent this evocative song. The whip-poor-will was among hundreds of common birds listed in the report as being in serious decline. Populations of the bird, according to 40 years' worth of data from Christmas bird counts and breeding bird surveys, have declined more than 57 percent, said the report, "Common Birds in Decline.''

A number of other common Wisconsin birds, many familiar to backyard birders and weekend visitors to the state's parks, are also listed as suffering steep declines in their numbers, largely because of loss of habitat due to sprawl and large-scale agriculture, threats which become even worse when combined with the perils posed by the warming climate and by ever-encroaching invasive species.

...

Though none of the birds are in immediate danger of extinction, bird experts with Audubon and in Wisconsin say the population declines are significant because they are happening to species with historically abundant populations thought to be somewhat insulated from threats such as habitat loss.

"These are not rare or exotic birds we're talking about--these are the birds that visit our feeders and congregate at nearby lakes and seashores and yet they are disappearing day by day," said Audubon Chairperson and former EPA Administrator Carol Browner. "Their decline tells us we have serious work to do, from protecting local habitats to addressing the huge threats from global warming."

Every once in a while you get a storm like we had Tuesday night. Thunder, lightning, rain, hail, wind - it had it all. Almost 2 inches of rain, most of that within about an hour time period. Local flooding abounded.

The ferocity of the rainfall was helpful for me - I've been doing projects around the yard to improve drainage, and the sudden heavy rainfall showed where the work remains. Of course, I'm sure it also flooded away most of the grass seed I spread on Sunday...

Clearly, I don't check out the Pennsylvania General Assembly web site much anymore, but it is good to see that you can now get the Daily Session Update sent via email now.

At least it's good to find out in advance that a food manufacturer is going to increase price by product size deflation:

General Mills later this month is reducing the sizes of boxes of many types of cereal, such as Cheerios, Wheaties and Cocoa Puffs. Although the company will sell the boxes for less than it's been charging for the bigger sizes, the change will increase the price per ounce.

This Thursday in Mechanicsburg.

In other local news, XPN is increasing signal and changing frequency in the Harrisburg area.

And, for those of us that drive on Orrs Bridge Road, they're reducing the size of trucks that are actually allowed on the bridge, although I'm not sure I'll notice the difference.

Apparently there's a top 20 Pennsylvania Influential Blogs. This blog is number 9 (the larch). (Sorry, can't resist a bit of Python...) Tony Phyrillas has details on the list.

If you wondered about the point of the Barna Group's "survey" about atheists and agnostic believing people, just look at how easily the followers are riled up against the atheists and agnostics.

That's the Barna Group, doing their job, agitatin' society's most agitatable.

Harrisburg at night.

Oh my God, Sacramento, for the good of the franchise don't do it...

I wonder where she is now...

I guess I don't understand why this survey included those with agnostic philosophy and those with atheist philosophy as a lump sum result. It is not even close to the same.

Of course, that is a true indicator of the interests of the surveying organization. Too bad the LA Times couldn't - or wouldn't - point that out. I don't understand why any news publication would treat a survey by the Barna Group as strictly information - that's not what the Barna Group does:

Through its five divisions, The Barna Group provides primary research (The Barna Research Group); communications tools (BarnaFilms); printed resources (BarnaBooks); leadership development for young people (The Josiah Corps); and church facilitation and enhancement (Transformation Church Network). The ultimate aim of the firm is to partner with Christian ministries and individuals to be a catalyst in moral and spiritual transformation in the United States.

Our Vision

To provide leadership and unique, strategic information and resources that help facilitate spiritual transformation in America.

They are in the business of Christianity promotion. Yet the LA Times article makes no mention of this. It's sad to see such POS* journalism being allowed at the Times.

Interesting post about the Barna Group at Goosing the Antithesis.

*piece of shit

As anyone who buys anything at the grocery knows, product size deflation continues to dominate the packaged food sector. Primarily the deflation occurs because the quantity in a package decreases, although there are also products that have shrunk in individual unit size as well - for example, the Quaker Oats Granola Bar seems to be quite a bit smaller today than when I first started eating them.

It sure would be useful to have a web site that tracked package and quantity sizes of products over time so that consumers could monitor this form of price inflation.

Time to try this again. I last did it in April with Skippy's blogroll, but today I'm using Poverty Barn's:

Below are a list of blogs that I would appreciate being blogrolled from, and that I think the content here is appropriate to be blogrolled from on a regular basis. And I'd provide a link back, obviously. I'm mostly curious as to whether anyone will salute such an approach - you know, blog barter diplomacy.

It has worked rather well so far. Cheers!

A Curmudgeonly Crab
Blondesense
Boing Boing
Bradford Plummer
DED Space
DenisDeKat's Symposium
Detroit Diva
eponymous
Ezra Klein
Holla Back NYC
Kottke
Lance Mannion
Left of Centrist
Mark Of The Beast
minnie
Notes From a Life in Progress
Range Life
The Snarky Squab
What is Liberalism?
Yoga Korunta

What do you think?

High School Reunions
Are High School Reunions Disappearing As An American Tradition?	Yes No I Don't Know
	Current Results

Don't be surprised. Recent news has found them in...

Northern California
Cleveland
Los Angeles
Wisconsin

So - what are you doing Sunday?

This is an interesting practice - creating advertisements that can only be seen from the air. I wonder if it increases the value of property under takeoff and landing flightpaths?

It all sounds fun except for the amount of learning curve getting the food and drink together.

Check out this site focusing the discussion on Open Records reform in Pennsylvania.

It's that time of year. Hey, even bloggers go, and blog about them. It's a community building tradition, and it is one that more neighborhoods ought to adopt. There aren't many places to:

Get the scoop on the neighborhood "news" of your choice.

Go to a big group thing and dress like an around-the-house day.

Have your kids fall in love.

And of course, scarf on a side variety of food. You'll almost always find something you've never had before that you'll want to have again.

So get in line!

Yes, LeBron seems to be worthy of a superstar to root for...

While we're talking about sports, it does seem that the kerfuffle about the London 2012 Olympic logo is much ado about nothing...

Dear Canada: Stay Canada.

It is the sad truth.

No, it is not rational to keep moving people into Southern California, and hasn't been for a long, long time.

At this pace, this post will move from satire to front page headline in Pennsylvania in the near future.

You're probably richer than you think.

There's a pretty big irony here, especially if you know the history of the son of Alex Grass.

It's the largest single gift in the history of Harrisburg Area Community College.

On Wednesday retired Rite Aid CEO Alex Grass presented a $1.5 million donation to HACC to establish the Alex Grass School of Business Leadership.

You know what's cool about the Federal Library and Information Center Committee?

You can order Cialis!!!

I think I'm going to give this a shot and see what happens. I'm looking for user experience on Interspire's Web Content Management system known as WebEdit. Informed comments only, please.

Who knew that Nouri Al-Maliki could be so deft with irony?

America had its civil war. Why expect freedom to come easy to Iraq?

Actually, that was a question that should have been asked of Mr. Bush several years ago. He's the one that acted like it would be easy.

BTW, do you remember how the British invaded the U.S. during the Civil War and installed troops to keep the peace?

Yeah, me neither. Bad comparison, bud.

It is perhaps true that only people who are denied the gift of liberty can truly appreciate its full meaning and bounty.

Neat, Bush's guy is lecturing Americans about liberty. Does this mean that the folks hidden in Guantanamo know more about liberty than the average American citizen? Should we be listening to their declarations about "liberty", instead of guys like George W. Bush, who has been the recipient of a gifted lifestyle most Americans can't imagine, either?

Our message has been the same to one and all: We will not permit Iraq to be a battleground for other powers.

Oh yeah, he's from the Bush mold. Deny an unfortunate reality at every turn.

It does eventually make a difference. Three years ago today, Crossfire blared away on CNN. Two years ago today, it was gone. Crap eventually breaks down and disappears into the environment.

WWE knows who watches them. My suspicion is that their adult audience skews very much to the Republican spectrum of politics, but that's just a suspicion. Regardless, it's a very, very sad day in the United States when an American faux sports program thinks that their audience wants to see people killed in car bombs.

I am rooting for your team, sorta, or perhaps I'm really rooting against the favorite San Antonio Spurs, but you really lost some of my enthusiasm with that horrible pre-game player introduction production you foisted on viewers last night.

Now, I will admit, I usually don't watch player introductions, and on the occasions I have, I have noticed that they are getting more and more overproduced - who's idea was it to have players run through dry ice clouds at football player introductions, anyways - but that was really bad last night. It's not worth describing, but if you saw it, didn't you sense that the players were a little lost... and embarrassed... with the whole getup?

I see that The Great Elsewhere has some thoughts about it, also.

It's very helpful for your lawn, but it might be a sign that you have Japanese beetle larva or other lawn-eating grubs.

Whaaaaa?

What person did your mother or father look up to, hold in esteem as a role model or hero?

If this is a publicity stunt, it's incredibly poor taste, even for rassling.

Mother's Day falls during the school year, and Father's Day usually does not. This leads to a lot more school projects, and events, for one of the "holidays" and not the other. Of course, both parents could be celebrated in one fell swoop on "Parents Day" if only that day didn't fall on the fourth Sunday of every July. I'm not sure about the timing of that, but it probably would have been wiser to put it in the school year if there was an intent to make it more than calendar filler.

Anyways, it seems to me that it would be useful for schools to put a learning segment into any celebration of any of those days so that kids could discover their parents' heroes, or role models. I'm almost 50 and I could probably piece together a few for both my parents, but I don't remember asking them this question, or getting an answer, and it's too late now. Seems like a worthy educational process for both kids and parents.

I bet Lady Bird Johnson wouldn't like this...

I was listening to Glenn Beck on the radio (I know, it was a temporary stop while scanning) as he was talking about immigration and government services and improving the lot of the poor, spanking the right wing anger monkey all the time, and I heard him say something I've heard other conservatives claim: That helping the poor, that ending the division of the haves and have-nots, can only be done by churches and other community organizations, and not by government.

There's clearly a lot of crap in such a declaration, but it does get back to a very basic understanding - government IS a community organization. Doesn't Glenn Beck ever wonder how local governments were created?

And doesn't he realize that various faiths have their own version of government as well? As a Mormon, he should be familiar with the rules of his faith, the administrative requirements of his church, the funding requirements. His church governs their religious community.

It's pretty clear that Glenn Beck is one mixed-up guy. Unfortunately, his confusion seems to be viral.

Oh, poor Stockton, California.

Will this be the only school in America named after our current Presider of the White House?

Unless it is in Crawford, Texas, it seems like a school district would be asking for trouble if they recommended naming the school after George W. Bush. There are plenty of less disgraced Presidents to name a school after, many many worthy non-Presidents to commemorate. So why go out on a limb and name a school after the most reviled President since Nixon?

Note to Stockton School District: there used to be a public school named after Nixon - but they tore it down.

That you didn't post photos of your children with name identification and location on the web. Silly me.

I think you'll like this podcast. A friend of mine sent it to me the other day, great listen. Os Mutantes!

Well, eventually it will be more of a swale for better yard drainage.

Why would anyone do it there any longer? Much higher price, much more crap to sift through during the renewal process, and in my opinion an interface that's inferior to some of the cheaper domain registrars.

I just don't get it.

All the possible combinations of words on the Internet, and yet only four pages have the sequence of

"I love Herbert Hoover"

Some things are just not meant to be on the web.

We all know of bands that are considered great, and in personal opinion you consider that they're good, but have never put together an album that delivers actual musical greatness. I'm not talking about bands that we don't get - for example, I'm just not a big fan of the Grateful Dead, I've tried and tried to listen but I just don't see it. Personal tastes vary for a variety of reasons, and I'm not going to say that the Dead weren't great, but I will say that I don't see it.

No, this is more about bands that you kept thinking would reach some sort of significant apex with their next recording output, and just never did. They made music you liked, but not music you loved. In short, even though you may be glad that you included them in your musical listening experiences, but if you had never heard them, you don't really think it would have been that great of loss.

A band I've been listening to again recently fits this category for me - The Replacements. I liked them in the 1980s, had them on both vinyl and then on tape, but I never bought any CDs of theirs. I recently bought a compilation album of their stuff, and it's good - but not great, and it made me wonder, what didn't click? They were so close...

Does any particular band strike you the same way - you'd listen to their new offerings each time, expecting eventual greatness, but it never happened, at least for your ears?

Perfect description of why we're still in Iraq.

For the 06-07 year, today is the last day of school!

I'm sorry, CNN, all online publishing is not blogging. This sorta looks like a blog, sorta acts like a blog, but it's really just repackaging of their content, so it's a schplog.

Well, damnit, wouldn't you know it that Schplog already exists, and it isn't CNN, so I am wrong. Maybe CNN has a fraudgg...

Would you suggest just a fine for the first time offender of espionage if it is a nonviolent and non-drug-related crime?

This kind of bullshit analysis fails to recognize a simple truth: time is relatively equal in accessibility to all people, but money is not. Require just a fine that would no doubt be paid by the Friends of Scooter Defense Fund? That's dipshittery.

Is James Carville a Democratic Strategist?

The news media reports that he is, over and over and over.

Of course, if Carville was out promoting himself as a Business Strategist, or a Medical Facility Strategist, or a Hershey Chocolate Strategist, whatever any of that means, he'd have to have somebody vouching that he was truly such a professional, to back him up that he is was he is saying he is. But who gives Carville the official, or semi-official, stamp of Democratic Strategist? Is it the National Democratic Party, is it the House or the Senate Campaign Committees? Who gives Carville the credibility to claim that he is a DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST so that the news media can report it as practically part of his name?

I can even understand saying he WAS a Democratic Strategist. Past tense. Or a former Democratic Strategist. But current tense?

This is not an idle question. On Carville's own website, he declares:

Political Consulting:
We no longer handle domestic races and have not taken a new domestic client since President Clinton in 1992. We do handle all international and corporate consulting...

See? Nothing about being a Democratic Strategist. In his own words, he's a political consultant, period. Worldwide. So why doesn't the news media refer to him as a Political Consultant, rather than branding him with a political party?

Sometime today this blog ought to pass that number of visits.

A few months ago I had a knee injury during basketball, self-diagnosed it as a MCL strain, it went away but then I reinjured it while doing something as mundane as getting off my stomach on the floor while working on computer cables. My wife made me go to the Dr., and the short version is that I was wrong, and I have a torn meniscus and an ACL tear. I was scheduled for arthroscopic surgery yesterday to remove the loose and frayed menisci, but there was an equipment breakdown at the facility I was to get my work done, and I've been rescheduled for surgery in August.

Right now that isn't a problem. My knee is acting fine at this point, but the problem is, I really don't know when I'll re-injure it again. It just happens.

Doing research to try to avoid it happening again bring up interesting items. This is a good article about the basics of meniscus injuries. I didn't know there were four general types of tears. This was also news to me:

Although there are two menisci in each knee, one medial and one lateral, they do not have the same injury history. The medial meniscus, or the one toward the middle of the knee, is injured 90 percent of the time. The lateral, or the one toward the outer part of the knee, is injured about 10 percent of the time, often along with a ligament injury.

Anyway, I'm hoping to make it through this summer without much aggravation of this injury. I tried playing tennis last week, and I got through a set and a half before I injured myself. I refuse to not play sports while I'm waiting for the surgery, but am willing to wear a knee brace, and to try to play in a slower, more deliberate style of sports in an effort to avoid injury. It was when I forgot to approach a tennis shot in this manner that I hurt myself, by depending on reaction rather than accepting the limitations of longer-term intention. This approach doesn't make my wife particularly happy, but active playing is too important to me to sacrifice unless the risk of injury appears greater than it does today.

Ron Paul. RON PAUL. RON PAULLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL.

After all, Bush appears to be well below the Mendoza line for being correct on international issues...

I don't know, I have some sort of visceral distaste for this particular advertising revenue stream for bloggers.

Maybe the iGasm ruined it for her.

A Representative in the Pennsylvania House wants to get rid of metal bats from organized baseball in the state:

Many 21st-century baseball players see a new pitch to ban metal bats from their youth leagues as a threat to the game they know.

"I prefer metal bats," said Colton Kirkpatrick, 14, a Middlesex Twp. resident and baseball player as he took in a recent Cumberland Valley High School playoff game. "With metal it goes farther, just on contact. It's not as thrilling when you hit with wood."

Rep. Mike Carroll, a Democrat from Luzerne County who coaches in his son's Little League, plans to introduce a bill this week to ban nonwood bats from organized age-group and high school baseball in Pennsylvania.

There's a lot of churn on this around the country, but having such a law in Pennsylvania could have much wider implications nationally and internationally, because the Little League World Series is played here. Teams and players would not want to play and practice under one equipment rule just to have to change if they succeed.

Of course, the alternative if such a law would be passed, if Little Leagues around the world didn't want to quit using metal bats, would be to move the Little League World Series. Not a good thing for Pennsylvania.

So... this isn't likely to go anywhere.

The War on Terrorism began in earnest in 1977, supposedly.

Why did Bush change it to the "War on Terror"?

In your opinion, is having James Carville in the public eye a good thing or a bad thing for the Democratic Party?

Although getting harder and harder to do, the liberal/progressive blogosphere distrusts you more today than yesterday...

Oliver Willis:

I'm honestly asking - is it appropriate for Gen. Peter Pace to be vouching for the character of Scooter Libby? Scoundrels like Wolfowitz and Matalin (as well as the increasingly clueless James Carville) I get, but Pace?

Booman Tribune:

But I have a little surprise for you. He may not have anticipated that his letter would become public, but none other than Corporal Cueball, Mr. James Carville himself, urged the Judge to consider "what further justice would be served by additional devastation to [Libby's family] and the many other children that love Scooter."

Now...it might not be fair, but I see this kind of betrayal by James Carville to be a metaphor for everything that is wrong about the Clintons.

Ixian Heresy:

I can understand why his wife Mary Matalin would write one - she's a neocon from the word go.

But Carville co-signed the letter praying for leniency. And the letter wasn't merely sympathetic or full of pity. It was a sanctification piece.

It must all just be a game to most of them. This isn't like simply allying oneself with an opponent for a single bill odious to both. Why would someone sign a letter like this, to plead for mercy for a criminal of this magnitude? Only because he apparently doesn't think it was a crime. Just "part of the game."

The Sideshow:

Can we start putting an (R) after his name, yet?

And my favorite, succinct and heartfelt, from BlueGrassRoots:

Up Yours Carville

That's my camp, too.

The Washington Elite loveletters for Scooter.

We can't kick Carville out of Democratic Party leadership - or the appearance that he's part of it - fast enough.

Jeez. It looks to me like Billy Donovan made a mistake by signing his contract with the NBA's Orlando Magic, regretted it almost immediately, and then decided to go back to his former employer. Frankly, I think it's a better thing for Donovan and the sport for him to return to Florida to coach basketball - after all, he did sell students on coming to Florida because he was coaching there, and to leave before fulfilling that promise seemed less than fair.

And I don't think anyone should make any bones about it - Billy Donovan is a great basketball coach. Any NBA team should want him - as should any college team. Orlando was right to want him. But take a look at Orlando - they've had how many coaches in the past 10 years? Six.

But what about Ken Davis, the writer of this story? Hope he never leaves his job for another, and then realizes he made a mistake, because by his judgment, he shouldn't be allowed to return. Is he serious, that by doing this Donovan has hurt his NBA chances? Did Chuck Daly help his reputation by agreeing to coach Orlando in the 90s? I don't think so. There's no guarantee that spending a couple of years coaching the Orlando Magic wouldn't have hurt Donovan's chances more.

Short answer: no.

Male "rockers" would smile ear to ear while performing?

I passed a fellow a little while ago who was sitting outside on a wall, smoking a cigarette. Never having been one to partake in this activity, I almost always have one thought come to mind when I first see this:

That looks sad.

I'm sure it's the solitude of the event, a man and his cigarette. It's such a lonely looking moment, at least from my standpoint.

I wonder how common that reaction is among nonsmokers?

I kinda wish I hadn't started playing this game...

Sometimes fair things are written about the agnostic in the media, but largely, the agnostic viewpoint is ignored.

In self-righteous fervour, a fanatical atheist is about on par with a religious fanatic. Neither is a pretty sight. No faith-based crime, sin or stupidity escapes Hitchens's eye, no matter how microscopic, and no faith-based mystery, beauty or wisdom catches it, no matter how macrocosmic.

He's like a good shot who walks out to the range with his carefully calibrated and highly polished weapons, then demonstrates his skill by shooting fish in a barrel. Dead fish, actually, for the ones targeted by the eminent British-American journalist have been pumped full of holes before.

There's a big difference between knowing there is a God (the deist position), not knowing if there is a God (the agnostic position), and knowing there is no God (the atheist position). Of the three, two debate from an assumption of knowledge (the deist and the atheist) and one from an acknowledgement of ignorance (the agnostic). Because neither the deist nor the atheist can possibly know, they both operate from a delusion. Only the agnostic, who demonstrably does not know, has his feet on terra firma.

Of course, just because the agnostic stands on solid ground, while the deist and the atheist are delusional, doesn't necessarily mean that the former is right and the latter are wrong. To begin with, it would be hard for an agnostic to be right as one cannot win a race in which one isn't entered. However, it's possible to win a race even if one starts out on the wrong, or delusional, foot. There may well be a God even if the deist cannot possibly know it, just as there may be no God even if God's non-existence cannot have been vouchsafed to Hitchens.

Chris Dodd's web team has a cool little app here...

I enjoy a good prank as much as anyone. On the other hand, there's a certain level of intelligence that is required for a prank, and if you don't have that level, you shouldn't be trying to commit pranks, because you clearly don't know the difference between a prank and a threat.

I'm all for giving kids the benefit of the doubt. I'm all for giving extreme dumbasses the benefit of jail time. It's unfortunate when kids are extreme dumbasses, but that's the way it goes. Criminal prosecution makes sense.

The Champs, from 1959.

The first Star Wars was the best, and after that, it went steadily downhill. I know I may be in the minority in that opinion, but so be it.

We're 96th! We're 96th!

I thought that the broadcast of the National Spelling Bee was great. More of this, please, and less "Are You Smarter Than a 5th-Grader"...

I used to cover the California State Legislature in the early 1980s, and the legislator that I disliked the most - by a huge margin - was John Doolittle. No sense of humor, obnoxious, holier-than-thou attitude, with stupid legislative ideas and a preference to break things into partisan attacks rather than trying to work together to solve problems. I'm sure his wipe-ish-ness is coming back to haunt him.

I've seen lots of "desert island" lists, but this is the first one I've seen for sex toys.

The new food pyramid!

We're no longer an agrarian planet. I'm sure you suspected that, but it's official.

I really don't see why large corporations should think of those who register "typo domains" as squatters. And as long as the owner of the "typo domain" isn't doing something intentionally to hurt the business of the "correct domain", I don't see why a lawsuit is even called for.

PDOST.com is available, and it's possible somebody typing in the URL for this site could fumble it up like that. It's up to me to snag that URL if I think that's a problem.

Schools Yes, Taxes No
Time Magazine, June 2, 1967

Across the U.S., a growing number of taxpayers are rebelling against the mounting costs of public education by voting down new levies and rejecting bond issues. In 1960, according to the U.S. Office of Education, only 11% of the nation's school bond issues went down to defeat; last year, 25.5% were rejected by voters, while countless others were approved by whisker-thin margins. Southern California, where public school expenditures have risen 345% since 1950, is a major center of the revolt: in the past two years, exactly half of the state's 202 school bond issues have been voted down.

Glory be the oil companies! (warning: spoken yesterday to the Limbaughtomies of America)

One of the biggest factors in the price of gasoline, and this came up yesterday on the Today show with Matt Lauer, he had the Conoco Shell CEO, and Lauer said, "A year ago we had you on here and you said that the price of gasoline is tied to the barrel price of oil, and if that goes down the gasoline price should go down. Well, oil is ten bucks a barrel cheaper this year and the gas price is higher. How can that be?" The guy said, "Well, normally it's true, because 60% of the price of gasoline is related to the price of oil. But, Matt, demand is skyrocketing." Lauer picked up on it, said, "Yes, it's our fault. We are addicted to gasoline," which also set me off yesterday because it's impossible to be addicted to gasoline.

It is not an addiction. People cannot do with less of it. It's not something that people use that they don't need. It's not a recreational commodity like is associated with other things that people are addicted to. It is the fuel of our democracy. It's the fuel of the engine of freedom, and that's why we're not going to be petroleum free in 25 years.

Freedom.
Democracy.
Gasoline.
Pathetic.

Susie's about to reach that benchmark for blog readership. Help her throw a blogparty!

They're bemoaning that Bush is destroying the Republican Party because he's so damaging to the United States.

Again, their complaint isn't how much he's hurt the United States, but about how that damage is now impacting the Republican Party. And their complaints only started in earnest when the damage to the Party became evident.

On Friday, June 8th, a 6 year tradition ends for me - my one block walk with our son back to the house after our daughter catches the school bus at the bus stop. Schools ends that day, and during the summer there's obviously no schoolbus, and next year, he gets on that bus and I'll do the walk alone.

I'll miss the walk. It's that one-on-one time where whatever emotional palette he's in for that morning comes crystal clear - whether he's goofing around, or joking, or wants to race, or wanting to ask questions about some subject, or is grumping around because of some decision I made. That, and the drive to the preschool, has been our guaranteed morning talk time for six years, but we'll find another guaranteed time now.

We haven't heard much from the medical community about outsourcing, but that may change:

William Nilsson had not paid much attention to the knee injuries he sustained during football games in high-school some 50 years ago. But when he tore his knee ligaments last year while playing golf, he, like 45 million uninsured Americans, didn’t know how he could pay for a knee replacement surgery. He saw the light of hope with Healthbase that helped him find low cost but high quality treatment in India, ensuring that he could play golf again.

...

William Nilsson is one of the many uninsured and underinsured American patients who seek help at Healthbase each year. Healthbase, a Massachusetts based medical tourism facilitator, connects patients to leading medical facilities overseas, arranging first-class treatment for them at major internationally-accredited hospitals in India, Thailand, Singapore, and Mexico. In order to provide a wider variety of hospitals and greater convenience to its patients, Healthbase is expanding its network of provider affiliates to Costa Rica, Panama, Argentina, Brazil, Belgium and Turkey.

The cost of surgical care at Healthbase’s continually growing network of affiliated institutions is typically a fraction of that found in the U.S., with equal or superior outcomes. A knee replacement surgery, for example, which costs over $30,000 in the US, costs only $6,500 in India. Even with travel expenses taken into account, the comprehensive treatment packages offered by Healthbase provide a savings measured in thousands of dollars.

I don't know all the specifics of the boycott call, but I know it's not going to work. I look at myself as an example. Yuengling is one of those "pride of Pennsylvania" companies, one that makes a quality product, has been here for generations, and that Pennsylvanians want to support because they don't want to see it fail, or leave. 178 years is a long time to build good will. When customers weigh between that good will and a boycott trying to hurt the company for employees who, according to this article, don't seem to be suffering due to absence of the union, it's unlikely to work in Pennsylvania at any level - emotionally, intellectually, economically. I, for example, don't see any real reason to follow the boycott. The sale hasn't been made.

So calling for a boycott is grossly ineffective in the short term, and reflects poorly on the union for trying to wield it. On the other hand, this is a little ding taken out of Yuengling's good will as far as public impression is concerned, so perhaps as a long term strategy it might have some value.