Off To College, Day 2...

So far, the class has been fairly interesting. Some of the magic that is the internet has been revealed to me (and the 8 others taking the class), prompting a few "oohs" and ahhs and half a dozen "cools".

Notwithstanding, the class is challenging. I've been learning how to lay out a web page, us links to take you to different parts of a page, to different pages within the website and links to other websites that open in a new window (to keep you from navigating away from the original site).

Today, I will complete another 7 hours of intense instruction, with a project included, and receive a certificate that says I completed the course.

It's not an Associates degree, but to me, it means the world, as I will have a new skill to add to my resume...a skill that may just open a few doors that wouldn't have otherwise in my search for employment.

On the other hand, it may just be the springboard for what I've wanted to do for quite some time...start my own graphic design company.

Once again, the oh, so familiar smell of coffee is permeating the first floor of Casa de Shaw...I'll fill you in later on what was accomplished in today's session.

Peace.

B.


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Off To College...

...To take some non-credit courses.

This may be the beginning of me getting back on track to earn a degree.

When and if I do, I'll add it to my bucket list then cross it off.

I've gone back before and had to quit when a scheduling conflict arose with work. Since I've not been able to find a job in my chosen field, I may have to do what I had to over ten years ago and re-invent the wheel.

Of course, I'll try to do as much of it online as I can. Montco Community College offers a combination package for the degree I'd like to earn, so I'll try to take advantage of it.

Oh, the course I'm taking today and tomorrow? Web design and development. Just another skill to pad my resume with for potential employers. In a few weeks, I'll be back to learn basic graphic animation for the web.

Well, coffee's ready...class starts at 9 o'clock...I'll be back online later to fill you in on what's-what.

Enjoy your day off, County employees, the rest of you, at least traffic won't be too bad today.

Peace.


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Change Comes to Washington, D.C.

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Obama to Veto Porkulus Bill...

...don't we wish?

Actually, this article, Posted by Scott Ott on "scrappleface.com", satirizes the passing of the so-called "stimulus package"...

Obama to Veto Stimulus Bill: ‘I Had a Dream’

by Scott Ott for ScrappleFace · 10 Comments

(2009-02-14) — President Barack Obama said today that “after a restless night’s sleep” he will veto the $787 billion economic stimulus package passed by Democrats in Congress on Friday.

“I had a dream,” said a visibly shaken Mr. Obama. “that my daughters, Sasha and Malia, were trapped under the 1,100-page legislation. In the dream I saw my girls as women in their forties and they were still paying for this. I woke up, and did the math, and realized that it wasn’t just a dream. Has anybody read this thing yet?”

The president said he “never really cared about the stimulus anyway” and that he “just wanted Nancy to shut up and Harry to go away,” referring to House Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Reid.

Good stuff? Read the rest of the article here.

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The Only Post I'm Posting Today

...and it's a "repeat"!

Born Today:

L.L. Bean was born on 13th of February in 1873

Bess Truman was born on 13th of February in 1885

Grant Wood was born on 13th of February in 1892

Tennessee Ernie Ford was born on 13th of February in 1919

Chuck Yeager was born on 13th of February in 1923

Kim Novak was born on 13th of February in 1933

George Segal was born on 13th of February in 1934

Oliver Reed was born on 13th of February in 1938

Carol Lynley was born on 13th of February in 1942

Jerry Springer was born on 13th of February in 1944

Peter Tork was born on 13th of February in 1944

Stockard Channing was born on 13th of February in 1944

Peter Gabriel was born on 13th of February in 1950

Lord Randolph Churchill (Winston Churchill's dad) 13-Feb-1849

Randy Moss was born on 13th of February in 1977

Henry Rollins was born on 13th of February in 1961

My Grand-Uncle Herman "Bud" Schwartz was born on 13th of February ( a long time ago)

And last but certainly not least, props to my mom and dad, because:

Your Humble Blogger, B. Shaw was born on 13th of February in 1964
(little did the world know what it was in for!)


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Censure Is (Or, "Spank the Turd" Again)...

Contributed by "Black Horse"


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My Dad's Blog

Dad posted a few more snippets this week. Be sure to check them out on his blog, "My Philthy-Delphia.

He's finally getting the hang of things and is quite happy to have a place (other than Mom's ear) to rant about what pisses him off about our government. Mom's happy that Dad's found a new hobby since he retired. I'm happy to see Dad take a passionate interest in how bad things have gotten (welcome to the club, Dad!).

Looks like everybody's happy.

B.
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Weight Loss, Week 5

This begins my fifth week of my weight loss plan. I've gained a half pound this week.

My net loss since embarking on this program on January 5th is 7 lbs. My net loss since January 1st, when my scale read "OL" (over limit) is approximately 13 lbs. I was 299 lbs Christmas week.

Am I disappointed in the half pound weight gain? No. I had a weekend that was not conducive to dieting and/or calorie counting. I drank a lot of OPB (other peoples beer), also, adding to the mix. I'm quite surprised, in fact, that the weight gain wasn't more.

I've since gotten back "on the program" of portion control, save for a lunch at Cracker Barrel yesterday...but I did have three vegetables with my chicken fried steak.

As for exercise? We've been fostering a dog for a friend and I've been walking about a quarter mile every day, which may not seem like much, but with my bad knee, is more than enough to get me sweating. I think the walking is the reason I haven't gained more than that half pound this week.

Week 5 begins with my birthday tomorrow. I've already chosen my "dinner" and will be having a steak, baked potato with sour cream and a salad. I'd like French onion soup as an "appetizer", but may have to pass on the cheese and bread.

After my birthday feast, it's down to the business of knocking off a pound or two this week. Wish me luck.



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Specter Responds to Criticism-CNN Video

Specter get's thrown a softball by CNN on his vote for the Porkulus package:



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Montgomery County Controller: S.N.A.F.U.

And I mean A.F.U.!

Here's the thing-Montco Controller, Diane Morgan, has really let her office go to hell in just over a year.

The 1099 forms sent out by the controller's office for over 1620 individuals are wrong. Yes, wrong.

Here's what happened...the new software (such as "we dems know better than you what works") used to generate the 1099 forms has a major snag in it:

For example, a county assistant district attorney might receive a fee as an independent contractor when she or he sits on a three-member arbitration panel to handle a civil case. That assistant district attorney may be reimbursed for expenses to travel to a preliminary hearing as part of his or her job as a prosecutor.

The accounts payable software used by the county lumps all of those fees and reimbursements together and that sum is reflected on the 1099 forms, according to Morgan.

Also, a 1099 form, filed with the IRS, lists taxable income from which no deductions have been made.

My questions for Ms. Morgan are: How much is going to cost the Montgomery County taxpayers? And, isn't the boss ultimately to blame when a trusted second screws up? Lastly, What about those employees who already filed their taxes...if they paid someone to do their taxes, is the controller's office responsible for paying to have them re-done? I'll bet the answer to all of these questions is "no comment".

Since last year, Morgan has been going all out to try to screw with Republicans in the courthouse and in One Montgomery, and all the while, "Rome" was burning. Maybe Diane Morgan needs to get her own house in order before she starts sticking her nose under other people's tents.



Even Eric Kretschman never screwed up this bad, IMHO!

Read the entire Intelligencer article here.

H/T to SPR for the heads-up

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Happy Birthday, Sarah!

Today is Sarah Palin's birthday.

As Sarah turns 45 today and I turn 45 on Friday, my arrogance allows me to state that 1964, especially February 1964, was indeed, a great vintage for conservatives in America.

Thank goodness Thalidomide became illegal in '62. (heh!)

G-d bless you, Sarah Palin, on the anniversary of your birth. Many happy returns of the day and may you live another 45 (or more) years, if so inclined!

If you would like to email Governor Palin and wish her a happy birthday, click this link, to her official government web site, and fill out the form:

http://gov.state.ak.us/govmail.php




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Jimbo Takes One With The Team

The County will retain the services of longtime auditors, Maillie Falconiero & Co. of Pottstown, to audit the Retirement Boards books.

This was accomplished by...get this...Matthews voting with Treasurer, Garrett D. Page and Republican Commissioner, Bruce L. Castor, Jr.

Voting against were Commissioner Hoeffel (D) and Controller, Diane Morgan (D).

Morgan and Hoeffel wanted to hire a firm located outside of Montgomery county, to which Castor, Page and Matthews rebuked them by saying,

"they were satisfied with the past work performed by the Maillie firm and preferred awarding county contracts to county businesses whenever possible." (M. Gibbons, The Intelligencer-02/10/08)

Morgan had proposed that a Reading, Berks County firm do the job "to put fresh eyes and a healthy dose of skepticism" on the process, basically saying that she didn't trust the two commissioner's and the treasurer's judgment. The Reading firm had proposed to do the job for about $5 thousand dollars per year more than the Maillie firm.

I'm not fully convinced that this was a "party line" vote by Jimbo, more than the fact that he wanted to keep Montgomery County tax dollars in Montgomery County, which I have absolutely no problem with, whatsoever.

As a matter of fact, here's a novel idea...how about the commissioners imposing a "Do Business In Montco" doctrine? That way, political contributers from surrounding counties can't influence Montco politics by being awarded contracts to do business with Montco. I'm sure exceptions could be made when certain services are not available in Montgomery County, but for the most part...contracts here keep and create jobs here.

Yeah, it's a silly idea. So was the airplane and subsequently the parachute.

Read Margaret Gibbons Intelligencer article here.



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...And, Running (Again)...

Two names pop up in the county judicial races on the democrat side of the ticket...names we all may recognize for no other reason than the fact they run for everything lately.

None other than Anne Thornberg Weiss (our county Clerk of Courts) and two-time loser of the 6th Congressional seat (to Jim Gerlach), Lois "the Carpetbagger" Murphy.

Murphy's last assignment/job was on the Governor's Action Team, a sort of lobbying group that helps companies expand and grow in PA (after, I'm sure, a hefty donation to the democratic party).

As for Thornberg Weiss, she should have never run for row office if she'd known she was going to run for judge. Your humble blogger wonders if she only ran to raise her name recognition (which, in turn, would help raise money or the party)? No, that wouldn't be ethical.

Anyway, the only other notable on the democrat side is former Ken Davis supporter and Republican Party apostate Cheryl Lynn Austin. Austin defected from the party in the great debacle called the "Registration Shift"...the largest shift in registration in Montgomery County history, all while under the dutiful watch of failed party chairman Ken Davis.

What really boggles the mind, is that the website of former MCRC director Adam Gattuso and his assistant, Matt McLaughlin's consulting group, GOP for PA, still had Austin listed as a Republican as of January 7th of this year (see cached page-click here).

So, there you have it...three notable democrats running for judge in Montgomery County this year. From what I see, we need to run 7 notable Republicans to beat them, if only on name recognition alone.

With the number of candidates in the race at the present time, the outcome of our endorsement may have the greatest impact on Montgomery County than any time in past history. It's up to the committee people of the MCRC to speak up to their leaders and urge them to choose the best and brightest when they meet to make their recommendations to party chairman, Bob Kerns. The will of the committe is of the utmost importance now, more than ever..

Lets hope they choose well. Let's hope they choose wisely. Let's hope they choose based on what we, the committee decide. If not, then the next choice will be ours...to choose new leadership within our committees.



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Censure Is (Or, "Spank the Turd")...

I've gotten 2 submissions so far...

"Chris From Springfield" submits:



While "Pottstown Pete" thinks this one is a hoot:

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"Censure Is"...

Back in the 60's and '70's, there was a series of comics that started with "Love Is", and went on to have little, syrupy, cute snippets attached, like "Love Is" 'never having to say you're sorry', and the like, all of it hippie drivel.

Well, folks, after this weekend, we need to re-wire that hippies comic series and start a "Censure is" series.

Why?

Well, first and foremost, at the state committee breakfast for the Southeastern Caucus, several of Montgomery County's State Committee members were warm and fuzzy with KJIII. As I sat and watched Jimbo go from table to table, looking for friends, he, indeed, found one or two.

So, for those few that actually exchanged kind words with the first (little "R") republican who ever was censured by the Montgomery County Republican Committee for actions not consistent with the principles of the Republican Party, here is the first of my series, which I will call "Censure Is". Maybe you guys will finally get the hint.

To the rest of us, those who do "get it", I hope you enjoy them, my apologies to the original creator of the "Love Is" brand, and, if you feel so inclined, send me a few of your own and I will post them at a later date.

As an added incentive, send in your ideas, get your chance to "spank" the Turd and I'll give a Writemarsh button to the top 5 entries!

B.

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Sightings:XXI ***UPDATE***

Yes, I have an update!

The "turd" showed up at breakfast, milled around the banquet room, spoke to a few of his Montco "faithful", walked over and stood by himself next to the entrance wall, and snuck out when nobody was looking...well, almost nobody.

And he didn't even stop by our table to say "hi". This photo is of Jimbo, right before he left...it kinda sucks when nobody wants you around, doesn't it?





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Sightings:XXI

I happened to be in Harrisburg last evening, and who did I happen to see on the second floor atrium of the Hilton, Harrisburg?

Heeeeeeeeee's Heeeeeeeere!

Yes, folks, in H-Burg to celebrate his and Ronald Reagan's birthday (the irony befuddles me) was none other than King James the Turd!

James Rex was sighted by your's truly, just after I saw his personal secretary standing on the atrium stairs, attempting to mix it up with a few people...and throwing back a few to celebrate his special day.

His Majesty actually bumped into me (OK, I bumped into him) at one point, but, like ships passing in the night, neither acknowledged the collision. I was too busy trying not to drop three beverages while balancing my good leg with my cane to stop and exchange pleasantries.

El Rey Jaime de Mierda la Tercera did not have dinner with the state committee crew. Although I did see his county secretary chumming it up with State Committeewoman, Susan Shea later on in the evening, KJIII was noticeably absent from any further festivities.

Maybe I'll see him at breakfast.




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Weight Loss, Week 4

At the beginning of what is my 4th week, I have a net loss of 7.5 lbs. That may not be substantial to most, but I'm steadily losing and keeping it off. I lost 6 last week from my illness and put 4 back on, but I expected that result.

I've been getting a handle on portion control over the past three weeks. Even on Superbowl Sunday, I ate half a tuna hoagie, two or three fried mushrooms and that's all. I had no additional snacks during the game, as in years past.

I've also been cooking for four, not making a meal fit for an army, so we're wasting less food. I'm planning on preparing some bulk "freezables" for the winter, chili and soup, which I will freeze in quarts.

One of the problems I need to get more under control is all of the tasting I do while cooking dinner. The introduction of one-pot, pre-prepared meals such as soup and chili are will help that issue along...just heat and eat!

We are also fostering a dog for a while, so my activity level is up, with three a day walks around the cemetery, about 2 miles total (combined walking).

Here's to week 5...


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Am I Making Too Much Of This?

On a personal note...I've owned a snow blower since 1996, the year Scraps was born. My house is a "twin" home and we have one common driveway that comes off the street, which splits at the top of the entrance into two separate driveways.

About 5-6 years ago, we got new neighbors. They are both in their 60's and the husband has health issues. I started snow-blowing their side of the driveway that first year, just because a) it's the neighborly thing to do, and b) because of the health issues noted above. I've done this every year since they've moved in, never asking for anything in return.

Skip forward to this year. The two substantial snow storms we've had weren't that bad, the snow was a powdery snow and I was able to use the shovel to move it. My neighbors, on the other hand, have a relative who lives close who has a "quad" with a snow plow attachment. Their thirty-something son borrowed the quad twice this year, cleared their side, pushed the snow onto my lawn, and left without even offering to clear my side. (this son lives with them now)

I'm not sure whether or not to say anything to them about the issue, but it pisses me off that he is pushing the snow onto my lawn. When I "blew" the snow for them, I distributed the snow equally on both sides of the property. But, I did both houses, not just the mouth of the driveway and my side.

I'm just venting, as I have to go out, break out my snowblower and put even more snow on top of what he already plowed onto my lawn.

For the record, if they didn't plow, I'd have been out there last night with the snowblower, clearing both sides. I like my neighbors and don't want to make this the issue that causes tension between us, but...let's say it's frustrating.

I had to get this rant off my chest...my wife is tired of hearing me bitch about it, so I thought I'd share it with you.

So, off I go, to blow the snow...stay warm!



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Judicial Boards of Review

All candidates running for judge in Montgomery County have the opportunity to be rated by their peers at the Montgomery County Bar Association. Those who chose to seek recommendation were assessed and the final results were posted on the Montgomery Bar Association website last week. The judging criteria is as follows:

The Judiciary Committee of the Montgomery Bar Association is charged with interviewing and rating candidates for the position of judge in the Court of Common Pleas. The Judiciary Committee is composed of 34 lawyers of diverse backgrounds, ages, practices and geographic areas of Montgomery County with a combined legal practice exceeding 1000 years.

Each candidate is evaluated individually and not as compared to other candidates. The purpose of the ratings is to educate the public as to how each candidate’s peers view them as possibly becoming judges, and to assist the electorate in their evaluation of judicial candidates on election day.

The Committee is charged to rate a candidate recommended, highly recommended or not recommended.

The recommendation awarded to the candidate does not speak to the candidate’s ability as a practicing attorney at law.

The rating criteria which are considered are the candidate’s:

• Integrity
• Good moral character
• Industry
• Good health
• Legal ability
• Bench trial, jury trial or evidentiary hearing experience
• Judicial temperament (patience, courtesy, compassion, impartiality, humility, even temper, sense of fairness)

Each candidate submits to the Committee a biographical summary of their legal experience and background. These submissions are carefully reviewed and considered. The Committee also conducts reviews and discussions with persons each candidate advises are familiar with their qualifications.

The Bar considers this procedure a public service.

Below, I have listed those Republican judicial candidates "highly recommended" and "recommended" by the Bar:

Highly Recommended
Gary Steven Silow
Daniel J. Clifford
Carolyn Tornetta Carluccio
Garrett David Page

Recommended
Jeffrey McDonnell
Kelly C. Wall
Maureen Claire Coggins
John C. Armstrong
Patricia E. Coonahan
Wendy Demchick-Alloy
David A. Keightly
Joanna M. Cruz
Brian D. Rosenthal

Not Recommended
Harvey Friedland

The Bar Association allows attorneys vying for judicial recommendations to withdraw of the running rather than receive a "not recommended" status. The Republican candidates who withdrew are:

Bill Bryers
Moon Ahn
Barbara May

I have listed each candidate in the order they were presented on the Bar Association's website. I am looking into whether or not they were placed there by ranking, or if it is just a random placement.

As soon as I know, I will update this post accordingly.

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