Month: July 2011

LNP will never be what it once was

Lancaster Newspapers sold its’ soul when they got into bed with High Industries. Fulton Bank. was also an initial party in this fiasco, but saw the light and left while the leaving was good. The Steinman brothers must be turning in their grave that LNP could become so greedy and self-centered. LNP will never be […]

How America Could Collapse

THE NATION: … Barry Lynn of the New America Foundation has been studying industrial supply shocks since 1999, when he noticed that global computer chip production was concentrated in Taiwan. After a severe earthquake in that country, the global computer industry nearly shut down, crashing the stocks of large computer makers. This level of concentration […]

How statistically meaningful is telephone polling?

The Watchdog received a call from a national firm conducting a poll of Southeast Pennsylvania. The Watchdog responded that if the poll would not take more than two minutes, he would cooperate.  The party responded that the poll would take ten to thirteen minutes.  Our question:  How representative of the general population are people willing […]

Thousands of PA deteriorating spans need to be fixed

TRIBUNE-REVIEW:  … [A] national study released in March by Washington, D.C.-based Transportation for America found that 26.5 percent of Pennsylvania’s bridges remain structurally deficient — the highest rate in the country, and more than double the national average of 11.5 percent. State officials use a slightly different system of counting, but agree that Pennsylvania bridges need a […]

Nothing has changed at Lancaster Newspapers

Terrific summary but I have to inquire as to what the editor is smoking when he says : “Fortunately, local circumstances have in general changed for the better. This is especially true concerning the Lancaster Newspapers, Inc. which has returned to its former high standards.” Nothing has changed. LNP did not report this story on […]

Worth repeating: Can we learn from Rome’s experience?

EDITOR: Recent events makes this editorial from November 24, 2010  even more pertinent today. History students can sense “déjà vu all over again”, in the words of the great Yankee catcher and manager, Yogi Berra.   The Watchdog senses that the USA started to decline around 1992 with the election of Democrat Bill Clinton by a minority with […]

Re final chapter of Convention Center series

Wow… you really ought to have a gag alert before all of that! The on again off again of the project chased away any/all competitive bidders allowing High to ‘rescue’ the project. While other installments of covered it… the bait and switch of promising something to get sweet heart deals and then backing out on […]

Gil Smart scores 75%, a B-

In “Cutting our way to prosperity?” , Sunday News columnist and associate editor Gil Smart gets three out of four assertions right:  SMART:  “If we were really serious about spending cuts we’d be talking about, or also talking about, reducing our global military footprint. But we’re not, and that sends a clear message. Our attempt […]

SUNDAY NEWS

Editorial titled “Stamp of Reality” laments:  “If the U.S. Postal Service closes up shop on West Chestnut Street in downtown Lancaster, as it has suggested it will do as part of the continued scaling back of its retail operations, some regular customers are bound to grouse about the inconvenience. “Those not inclined to trek over […]

Pelosi ‘Clearly’ Backs 14th Amendment Option In Debt Standoff

HUFF POST:   …The provision at the heart of the constitutional debate, Section 4 of the 14th Amendment, states: “The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payments of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned.” Essentially, Democrats are arguing […]

Another Take on the Debt Crisis

Thursday night, I happened to catch a remark by Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan, in which she gleefully reported that she had labeled President Obama a “loser” in her Friday column. Given the potentially dire context of our looming financial crisis, I considered such a personal attack on our president irresponsible at best. Sure […]

Top Generals Quit in Group, Stunning Turks

HERALD TRIBUNE: Turkey’s top military commanders resigned en masse on Friday, a move without precedent in Turkish history that many analysts saw as a failed effort by a beleaguered institution to exert what is left of its dwindling political power… Military leaders have deposed elected governments four times in Turkish history, beginning in 1960, when […]

What is your name?

Two observations: When I was in college over a half century ago, my professors and administrators addressed me as “Field” which I did not like or Mr. Field.  (I once asked a professor to call me either  Mr. Field or Robert, but not just Field.) Today the dean’s letter of commendation addresses son Benjamin by […]