Headlined on Jan. 27 "Humble hero saves boy, 3; Pulls child from burning Solanco home." Said Jamie Sheetz: "I'm just a hillbilly...I did what a man's supposed to do."
WATCHDOG: Sheetz, although only 40, is a throwback to an earlier time before the confusion of gender roles. There were things that women were expected to do and things that were expected of men. He wouldn't even accept hospital care for his minor injuries.
A wag of the tail to Brett Hambright who wrote the story. Given the angle and the quote, we expect it to be picked up by the national press.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
NEW ERA
The Jan. 21st editorial is headed "Table games not good bet for Pa."
WATCHDOG: Let's remember this and see what they have to say two years from now if the convention center comes a cropper and Dale High and the Lancaster Newspapers make use of the casino license that many think that then Sen. Gibson Armstrong has had set aside for such a contingency, if not likelihood.
WATCHDOG: Let's remember this and see what they have to say two years from now if the convention center comes a cropper and Dale High and the Lancaster Newspapers make use of the casino license that many think that then Sen. Gibson Armstrong has had set aside for such a contingency, if not likelihood.
NEW ERA
The Jan. 22nd editorial "A way to simplify federal tax code" advocates a federal income flat tax of 20% for everyone. "If all or most of the tax deductions were eliminated - including the one for home mortgages (although, we don't see that happening) - virtually the entire federal tax code could be pitched, according to [Sen. Arlen] Specter."
WATCHDOG: Talk about "Alms for the rich!"
This would replace a "progressive" income tax, one in which the more a person earns the more on each added dollar is paid, with a "regressive" tax, whereby the poor and the rich pay the same amount out of each dollar earned.
How lovely that would be for those earning in the seven figures who now have to pay 33% on most of their income. (Sixty years ago they would have paid over 80%!)
A large portion of our population who are subsisting on minimal wages, who currently don't have to pay income tax, would have to fork over 20% of their meager income.
We can tell Specter is wooing conservative Republicans to support him in the 2010 primary election when he wheels out that proposal!
WATCHDOG: Talk about "Alms for the rich!"
This would replace a "progressive" income tax, one in which the more a person earns the more on each added dollar is paid, with a "regressive" tax, whereby the poor and the rich pay the same amount out of each dollar earned.
How lovely that would be for those earning in the seven figures who now have to pay 33% on most of their income. (Sixty years ago they would have paid over 80%!)
A large portion of our population who are subsisting on minimal wages, who currently don't have to pay income tax, would have to fork over 20% of their meager income.
We can tell Specter is wooing conservative Republicans to support him in the 2010 primary election when he wheels out that proposal!
Saturday, January 24, 2009
INTELLIGENCER JOURNAL
In his Jan. 23 column "Sen. Brubaker busy doing your business", Jeff Hawkes reports: "Brubaker expressed a particular interest in wanting to know if prison reform could result in savings without jeopardizing public safety."
WATCHDOG: That is for sure. As NewsLanc's recent article on the Justice & Mercy organization described, some prisoners who are eligible for probation cannot leave prison because they have no acceptable place to reside. And if they don't have a place to go to at the end of their sentence, they are re-arrested as they leave prison. Talk about Catch 22!
Considering that the USA has well over two million people incarcerated, the highest proportion per thousand of any nation in the world, and many for crimes as innocuous as smoking marijuana, there seems to be room for releasing hundreds of thousands of harmless individuals.
Except for the luck of the draw, Barrack Obama and George W. Bush would likely be two of them, as well as at least 20% of the U. S. adult population.
WATCHDOG: That is for sure. As NewsLanc's recent article on the Justice & Mercy organization described, some prisoners who are eligible for probation cannot leave prison because they have no acceptable place to reside. And if they don't have a place to go to at the end of their sentence, they are re-arrested as they leave prison. Talk about Catch 22!
Considering that the USA has well over two million people incarcerated, the highest proportion per thousand of any nation in the world, and many for crimes as innocuous as smoking marijuana, there seems to be room for releasing hundreds of thousands of harmless individuals.
Except for the luck of the draw, Barrack Obama and George W. Bush would likely be two of them, as well as at least 20% of the U. S. adult population.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
INTELLIGENCER JOURNAL
In a Jan. 22 article "SDL names Jon Mitchell athletics director ", it quotes Mitchell: "It's ridiculous that we don't have more students out for athletics than we do. I'd like to increase participation in all sports...It can't be only the coaches' job to recruit (athletes)."
WATCHDOG: If Mitchell is serious rather than engaging in public relations pap, he is ignorant to the real problem: Under trained coaches who lack knowledge on how to teach skills and run proper practices and instead have students engage in countless intra squad scrimmages which reinforce bad habits.
Don't blame the students for the failure of the School District of Lancaster over past years to pay attention to its athletic program. If Mitchell improves the coaching, the players will come.
WATCHDOG: If Mitchell is serious rather than engaging in public relations pap, he is ignorant to the real problem: Under trained coaches who lack knowledge on how to teach skills and run proper practices and instead have students engage in countless intra squad scrimmages which reinforce bad habits.
Don't blame the students for the failure of the School District of Lancaster over past years to pay attention to its athletic program. If Mitchell improves the coaching, the players will come.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
NEW ERA
A Jan. 19 editorial headlines "Radon: danger lurking beneath" and goes on to warn "It's a life-threatening problem that's largely being ignored. It's radon, a cancer-causing, radioactive gas that can collect in basements of homes or on the first floor of homes built on cement slabs."
WATCHDOG: It is a good idea to test your basement. There is a good likelihood in this part of the country is you will show a radon reading a bit above the level that the Environmental Protection Agency suggests warrants remediation. But don't panic. Unless it is much higher, you should do some research before enriching the industry that has grown up around and helps perpetuate radon scare.
The Environmental Protection Agency reports: "Radon is responsible for about 21,000 lung cancer deaths every year. About 2,900 of these deaths occur among people who have never smoked." In a country of over 300 million, that is a very tiny figure, for non-smokers not much different than the chances of being hit by lightening. (1 in 700,000.) And it is reasonable to assume that those who contract cancer are in locations of radon levels far above the level that triggers concern.
A study in 1996, the latest we could find on Google, as reported by the Associated Press in the New York Times states:
"A major study has failed to connect indoor radon exposure with lung cancer, raising new uncertainty about public health warnings that the colorless, odorless gas is responsible for as much as 10 percent of the United States' lung cancer.
"Americans have spent about $400 million testing for radon and renovating homes with high levels. But experts said today that several studies now suggest the minimum residential level of the gas that poses a significant cancer risk is not known."
Our point, test but take into consideration the level found and the risk involved compared to other risks we all run and don't spend thousands of dollars to prevent.
Caveat: If basement are being used for bedrooms or family rooms, testing and, where recommended, remediation becomes more important.
WATCHDOG: It is a good idea to test your basement. There is a good likelihood in this part of the country is you will show a radon reading a bit above the level that the Environmental Protection Agency suggests warrants remediation. But don't panic. Unless it is much higher, you should do some research before enriching the industry that has grown up around and helps perpetuate radon scare.
The Environmental Protection Agency reports: "Radon is responsible for about 21,000 lung cancer deaths every year. About 2,900 of these deaths occur among people who have never smoked." In a country of over 300 million, that is a very tiny figure, for non-smokers not much different than the chances of being hit by lightening. (1 in 700,000.) And it is reasonable to assume that those who contract cancer are in locations of radon levels far above the level that triggers concern.
A study in 1996, the latest we could find on Google, as reported by the Associated Press in the New York Times states:
"A major study has failed to connect indoor radon exposure with lung cancer, raising new uncertainty about public health warnings that the colorless, odorless gas is responsible for as much as 10 percent of the United States' lung cancer.
"Americans have spent about $400 million testing for radon and renovating homes with high levels. But experts said today that several studies now suggest the minimum residential level of the gas that poses a significant cancer risk is not known."
Our point, test but take into consideration the level found and the risk involved compared to other risks we all run and don't spend thousands of dollars to prevent.
Caveat: If basement are being used for bedrooms or family rooms, testing and, where recommended, remediation becomes more important.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
SUNDAY NEWS
In his Jan.18th column "Readers can't picture this," Editor Marv Adams describes the difficult decision concerning printing shocking and disturbing pictures, one today of the facial expression of a Moslem girl undergoing ritual circumcision. In contrast, the photo of a Palestinian girl killed in Gaza was restricted to their web site.
"When it's delivered in print to your home, you have almost no choice but to look at a photo. By choice, you log on to the Internet...Maybe if we did print photos of children, and others, killed in war, people wouldn't be so quick to push for war or to choose sides."
WATCHDOG: Well said. Well done.
Journalism should be truthful and edify. It should appeal to our better nature, not our prejudices.
"When it's delivered in print to your home, you have almost no choice but to look at a photo. By choice, you log on to the Internet...Maybe if we did print photos of children, and others, killed in war, people wouldn't be so quick to push for war or to choose sides."
WATCHDOG: Well said. Well done.
Journalism should be truthful and edify. It should appeal to our better nature, not our prejudices.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
