Month: July 2010

The UK: Universal Health Coverage, No Bills

The following information comes from “The Healing Of America, A Global Quest For Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care” by T. R. Reid, published in 2009, a book the Watchdog whole heartedly recommends.

(New York Times book review: “ ‘The Healing of America’ blends subjective and objective into a seamless indictment of our own disastrous system, an eloquent rebuttal against the arguments used to defend it, and appealing alternatives for fixing it.”)

Toomey leads Sestak, 45% to 39%

Toomey leads Sestak, 45% to 39% RASMUSSEN: Republican Pat Toomey continues to hold a small lead over Democratic Congressman Joe Sestak in Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate race. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Pennsylvania Voters shows Toomey earning 45% support, while Sestak picks up 39% of the vote. Six percent (6%) prefer another candidate […]

Shutting down city streets for funeral

No disrespect intended but REALLY? REALLY?  Who are they kidding?  This is a state road – did they get permission to do this? THREE HOURS?!?  Shutting the street down, right before the court house?!?! Are you kidding me?  What on earth is the justification for this?  This is not the President of the United States. […]

CC executives actually received 6.1% raises

The following appeared in the Intelligencer / New Era: “CORRECTIONS/CLARIFICATIONS “An article in last Friday’s Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era contained an incorrect percentage for raises given to two Lancaster County Convention Center staff members. The increases totaled 6.1 percent of the staff members’ salaries. The percentage stated in the article came from authority board members. […]

Multiple protections against discrimination

The  response to the Editor’s article about the possible elimination of the Lancaster County HRC is absolutely false. There are now MULTIPLE layers of services afforded to those who think they have been discriminated against. The city (given the dire financial situation they are in, they should follow the lead of the county and terminate […]

LNP making money coming and going

From MINNPOST.COM: …Now comes word from the Poynter Institute’s Bill Mitchell that Journalism Online’s system has been released into the wild; its first adopter is LancasterOnline, which serves a swath of south-central Pennsylvania.

What will be metered? Obituaries! Insert newspaper-audience-dying-off jokes here.

Elimination of Lancaster HMR would be devastating

Two Lancaster County Commissioners, Scott Martin and Dennis Stuckey, are recommending the elimination of the Lancaster County Human Relations Commission, the body responsible for enforcing civil rights in Lancaster County since 1964, protecting the rights of individuals in areas such as housing, employment, and education whose rights may be denied based on religion, race, sex, […]

Elimination of county Human Rights Commission deserves serious consideration

Lancaster has come a long way in the since the Watchdog built the Manor House Apartments in Lancaster Township and the first African American couple moved in. As someone who hadn’t even yet moved to Lancaster, he had no knowledge of or interest in the implicit local understanding among government and those in real estate that Blacks were to be contained in the Seventh Ward.

A FARCE: Mexico justice means catch and release

From the ASSOCIATED PRESS: CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico – It’s practically a daily ritual: Accused drug traffickers and assassins, shackled and bruised from beatings, are paraded before the news media to show that Mexico is winning its drug war. Once the television lights dim, however, about three-quarters of them are let go. Even as President Felipe […]

Rules set for reverse-mortgage lenders

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Two state agencies have announced new guidelines for reverse-mortgage lenders aimed at protecting older homeowners from getting bad advice or being duped by fraudulent operators. “Because reverse-mortgage products are specifically designed for and marketed to older residents, we feel a particular responsibility to safeguard their interests by making sure that they […]