PAWaterCooler.com

Poll Post from BitterAmerican:

Republicans will continue to lose ground – 11%

Republicans will stabilize their position – 11%

Republicans will make modest gains in both houses – 44%

Obama will dissolve elections to shore up his power grab – 17%

Republicans will party like its 1994 – 17%

A Third Party will emerge as a serious challenge – 0%

I will be posting this poll again at regular intervals until the 2010 elections.

I think he’s the 1st Republican to declare.

No Democrats yet now that Sestak is running for Senate.

Promising a new style of campaigning that will focus on voter engagement and utilize cutting-edge technologies, Steven Welch today announced his candidacy for the 7th Congressional District of Pennsylvania.

“It is time for accountability and bold approaches to tackle the tough decisions we currently face, not pushing them off for the next generation to solve,” said Welch. “Joe Sestak and the leadership in Congress think the solution to all of our problems is to spend more. I believe the Republican principles of empowering individuals and personal freedom are what can revive our economy and ensure that the United States remains the beacon of hope to the world.”

Steven announced his candidacy on his website, www.WELCHforPA.com, and through Facebook, Twitter and other social networking tools, providing a glimpse of the new approach to campaigning that he plans to bring to the race.

“Like many residents of the 7th District I watched with outrage as our Congress voted for bailout after bailout, sometimes not even understanding what they were voting for and often bailing out the same companies that they received large political contributions from,” added Welch. “We need people in Congress with a proven record of creating good jobs with good benefits, balancing a budget and meeting a bottom line. We don’t need rubber stamps that vote with Nancy Pelosi 97% of the time.”

Steven Welch is the former founder & CEO of the Mitos Group, a leader in biotechnology solutions. Steven is also the co-founder of DreamIt Ventures, a unique venture firm that helps technology start-ups get off the ground. Over the past two years DreamIt has funded over 20 small businesses and helped nearly 100 entrepreneurs.

In 2008 Steve was selected as a member of the Philadelphia Business Journal’s 40 under 40, as well as being named its Entrepreneur of the Year. Most recently Steven was awarded the prestigious Eisenhower Fellowship to build bridges internationally in small business communities to drive job creation and economic development. Steven and his wife, Nicole, live in Phoenixville with their daughter, and are expecting their second child this summer.

To learn more about Steven and to watch the announcement of his candidacy visit www.WELCHforPA.com.

No, really.

Fans of Michael Jackson gathered to celebrate his life and death along Broad Street Wednesday evening.

The tribute was staged outside Philadelphia International Records in the 300 block of S. Broad Street near Pine Street.

Jackson and his brothers recorded songs inside the Philadelphia International Records studio back in the 1970s.

Fans gathered in the middle of the street to sing and dance to many of Jackson’s classic songs.

“I’ve been crying non-stop, happy tears, I’m going to the funeral. I was supposed to go to London in two weeks to see him,” Beverly Brown of Croydon said.

Athan from P.A. Judicial Watch posed an interesting question to me: How would the Philadelphia firefighters who were victims of reverse discrimination have fared under Judge Sonia Sotomayor? Since the City settled the lawsuit we may never know how she would have ruled but we can always engage in some reasoned speculation. First what do we know about Judge Sotomayor’s racial and judicial views? Well we know she said this:

In 2001, Sonia Sotomayor, an appeals court judge, gave a speech declaring that the ethnicity and sex of a judge “may and will make a difference in our judging.”

And she also said this:

“I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life,”

And still another gem:

This month, for example, a video surfaced of Judge Sotomayor asserting in 2005 that a “court of appeals is where policy is made.” She then immediately adds: “And I know — I know this is on tape, and I should never say that because we don’t make law. I know. O.K. I know. I’m not promoting it. I’m not advocating it. I’m — you know.”

She affirms her beliefs, that, in her own words, not taken out of context, are everything white men have been vilified for, for more than a generation. Yet even these most racist statements lack a fundamental element- truth. Judge Sotomayor’s belief that her so called upbringing in the school of hard knocks (a school she barely attended) is somehow more relevant than the average white man’s and that makes her somehow more perceptive or well reasoned. Imagine, stereotyping a whole class of people. Yes Your Honor, all white guys are born and raised in the lap of luxury and lead lives of privilege. Her belief that as a judge she can make law, or at least social policy is the worst kept secret in Washington. How is she a candidate for ANYTHING? Oh I forgot her race and gender. Duh.

I can assure Judge Sotomayor that an intelligent white man is far MORE capable of rendering a correct legal opinion than she is as we have witnessed this week. That white, male firefighters are so clearly superior to their peers that no one else can compete and so need the Federal Government to prop them up is at the heart of the Ricci case and she booted it. Her ruling effectively punishes their hard work and champions underachievement.

This ruling was thoroughly discredited by other white men whom she so clearly despises. In fact she was rebuked by Judge Jose Cabranes (A Hispanic male no less) immediately after her now famous Ricci decision. He understood the Constitutional issues at the heart of this case and was stunned that she ducked them. LINK

Her ruling:

We affirm, for the reasons stated in the thorough, thoughtful, and well-reasoned opinion of the court below. Ricci v. DeStefano, 554 F.Supp.2d 142, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 73277, 2006 WL 2828419 (D.Conn. Sept. 28, 2006). In this case, the Civil Service Board found itself in the unfortunate position of having no good alternatives. We are not unsympathetic to the plaintiffs’ expression of frustration. Mr. Ricci, for example, who is dyslexic, made intensive efforts that appear to have resulted in his scoring highly on one of the exams, only to have it invalidated. But it simply does not follow that he has a viable Title VII claim. To the contrary, because the Board, in refusing to validate the exams, was simply trying to fulfill its obligations under Title VII when confronted with test results that had a disproportionate racial impact, its actions were protected.
The judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.

LINK

Judge Sotomayor is ignorant as surely as any other American bigot is. Just because she is Hispanic, or female, or grew up in a possibly broken home or is a judge gives her no cover. No excuses. When it comes to the Philadelphia firefighters who the City admitted discriminating against, Judge Sotomayor more than likely would have told them exactly what she told the New Haven firefighters:

In essence-It does not matter that you have a learning disability. It does not matter that everyone involved in the promotional process had equal opportunity to study and prepare for the test. It does not matter that the test was fair and unbiased. It does not matter that some minorities were able to score highly on the test. It does not matter that you put in a superhuman effort studying for the exam. It does not matter that you deserve to be promoted. It does not matter that your rights have been violated. It does not matter that those to be promoted ahead of you are less qualified.
What does matter is that you are the wrong color. What does matter is too many white males scored too highly. What does matter is the city did not get the correct outcome. What does matter is there are not enough people on the list who are the correct color and I have the power to remedy that.

I can’t say for sure this is how she would have ruled but I can’t say for sure she wouldn’t have. I don’t know which is worse.

Says he “intends” to run and is still “finalizing” his decison. Whatever that means. Here’s the official statement:

“This morning at 4:00AM, Congressman Sestak began a trip to the 67 counties in Pennsylvania over 3 weeks to listen and meet with the good people of Pennsylvania, including local Democrats and media. He does, as he has said recently, intend to get in the Senate race as he finalizes his decision with his family, who are very supportive.”

Read the whole non-committal committment here.

H/T PoliticsPA

The City of Philadelphia this year quietly paid out $275,000 to settle claims by five white firefighters that they had been discriminated against in the promotion process.

Not only did the city pay five lieutenants between $30,000 and $40,000 each in the January settlement of a 2007 federal civil-rights lawsuit, but the Fire Department also agreed to address the officers’ complaints that the promotional exams they took in 2005 were skewed against them in favor of minority candidates.

The settlement suggests that the city gave some credibility to the officers’ claims – including one that the city purposely brought in minority officers to administer the tests.

The settlement was marked “confidential,” but the city released it to The Inquirer under the state Right to Know Act.

The settlement allowed the city to avoid a lengthy litigation and appeals process such as the City of New Haven, Conn., experienced in a 2004 lawsuit by 20 white firefighters who challenged their city’s promotion process. On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in their favor.

The Philadelphia case underscores a similar, ongoing racial tension in the department in regard to promotions and how the tests are given and scored.

Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers could not be reached for comment. Everett Gillison, the deputy mayor for public safety, said he was not familiar with details of the lawsuit and would not comment until he had reviewed it.

The Philadelphia lieutenants – Francis J. Hannan, Joseph Lee Jr., Gerard Kots, Michael Wellock, and Thomas G. Leonard – sued the city in September 2007, claiming that they had been “systematically or otherwise downgraded” because of their race during the oral portion of the July 2005 fire captain’s examination.

None of the five was promoted at the time – Hannan and Lee made captain in subsequent promotion rounds.

In the suit, the men alleged that the “raters” – fire officers from other cities brought in to administer tests, a practice in most departments – were told before the tests that the department “was ‘in dire’ need of minority and female fire officers,” according to the complaint.

Of the 14 raters brought in for the 2005 captains test, 10 were African American, some of them members of the International Association of Black Professional Firefighters, which has advanced the cause of blacks in the firehouses nationally, according to the complaint.

The five white lieutenants lost points for such things as lack of “appropriate eye contact,” mistakenly addressing a female rater as “Sir,” and for “being too wordy,” according to the complaint.

I am well aware of this lawsuit and settlement but until it hit the open media I have withheld my comments. Now it’s plain to see that the problem of reverse racism is alive and well in major American cities like Philadelphia.

If you thought New Haven was an isolated case think again. Institutional reverse racism has been a growing problem for many years. It is fostered by the left in their never ending quest for “Social Justice” and “Social Engineering”. It is often disguised with terms like “Diversity” and “Awareness’. It is force fed to us by zealots in Personnel departments and used to cover the inequities of “Protected Classes”.

I have been through the promotional process about five times in my career. I have found it to be arbitrary, subjective and bias. I have also worked hard to overcome these issues by being 100% as professional and knowledgeable as I can be. In other words when it comes to firefighting I have to make sure I know my sh*t twice as good as other people in order to leave the raters with no excuse to pass me over.

Others have not been so lucky. I know everyone of the men mentioned in this article. To a man they are the cream of the crop and should have been treated fairly. The City of Philadelphia’s admission and settlement is proof positive that racism is alive and well in our department and I suspect many others as well.

For years while liberals have preached level playing fields and diversity they have worked behind the scenes to exclude the best and brightest often by illegal methods. Right now four of the top five command positions in the PFD are held by minority officers.

These are not new allegations. The administration of the PFD specifically asked for and got the testing firm they wanted last time around even at a higher cost to tax payers. You can draw your own conclusions as to why a city in dire financial straights spends more money than it should just to administer a promotional exam. The personnel department makes up the written test simply by flipping through a text book and picking random questions. How difficult is that to comprehend? It is the oral portion of the exam where all bets are off.

This issue has serious implications for me as I am waiting on the test date to be announced for the next Battalion Chief’s exam. I have to prepare myself not only professionally but socially. I have to worry not only about the exam questions but the raters impartiality as well. These issues simply have no place in our supposed color blind society. Does anyone think I could do my job if I took race into account every time I answered a call? I spend every shift serving the PEOPLE who call us. Everyone gets the same standard of care the situation warrants without exception.

It’s time we start waking up and demanding an end to racial preferences and quotas of any sort. There is simply no reason in this day and age to justify using someones race, gender, ethnicity or any other non job related criteria in hiring or promotion. It is time to make sure the best, brightest and hardest working PEOPLE are rewarded.

Joe Sestak has announced that he will challenge Specter in the Dem primary.

Read it here.

My pool might as well be an ice sheet.

Thanks to a conspiracy of generous cloud cover and persistently wet soil, this June will end up being the coolest in 12 years.

The official Philadelphia temperature for the month will come in right around 71 degrees, and while that’s less than 1.5 degrees below normal, that’s a lot chillier than some recent Junes, especially last year’s.

The relative coolness has a lot to do with the frequent cloud cover, which has obscured the sun, and the rains, which have dampened the ground and blunted the sun’s energy, says Todd Miner, a meteorologist at Pennsylvania State University.

Rainfall for the month has been about 150 percent of normal, however the most-prominent June feature has been the lack of extreme heat.

As a matter of fact, my pool WAS an ice sheet last night.

Behind us is the Arctic Ocean at Oliktok Point, Alaska… i’m with a gaggle of co-workers.

The air temp was 45 degrees and water was a balmy 32. It was my third or fourth jump in.. we had six newbies.

York Daily Record

“I think prayer is talking to God, so when I pray, I try to talk to him,” said Stoltzfoos, the pastor of Freedom Valley Worship Center in Straban Township, Adams County.

However, that principle clashed recently with a new policy of Pennsylvania’s Speaker of the House, Keith McCall, D-Carbon County.

Stoltzfoos had been invited by state Rep. Will Tallman, R-Reading Township, Adams County, to open Tuesday’s session of the House with a prayer as guest chaplain.

The pastor declined the invitation after someone on McCall’s staff told him he could not use Jesus’ name in the prayer.

“First of all, I don’t see how Jesus is denominational. The whole Christian world is called after him,” Stoltzfoos said. “I just feel like, if you want me to pray, then I have to pray to the one thing I know. I only know one God personally. I only serve one God. How do I do something that dishonors him?”

The policy — not yet three months old — requires guest chaplains to first submit their prayers in writing and then, if deemed necessary, agree to change their words to meet “nondenominational” guidelines established by McCall’s [D-PolitcalCorrectness] staff.

It is not an attempt to silence religious leaders, McCall [D-1stAmendmentHuh?] spokesman Bob Caton said, but rather an effort to prevent taxpayers from having to foot the bill of a lawsuit if someone objects to a prayer’s contents and chooses to sue the state.

A building full of lawyers and they’re afraid they’ll be sued?

Somehow I think that fear will come true.

Short notice, but Election Journal caught wind of a 14 city ACORN protest/rally TODAY (June 30th) promising “Great Visuals”.

Pittsburgh – 10am – Federal Reserve @ 717 Grant St.
Philadelphia – 11:15am – Goldman Sachs @ Mellon Bank Cntr, 1735 Market St 26th Floor.

If you can break away today, please go keep an eye on these shady folks – and take your camera!

Important post from the Commonwealth Foundation today.

You’re being lied to.

The Supreme Court has ruled in favor of the Plantiff (Frank Ricci) in the Ricci case. In essence they have upheld this firefighters complaint of REVERSE DISCRIMINATION in the promotional process!!! This is a GIGANTIC, stunning victory for hard working firefighters all across America. This opinion reaffirms that skin color shouldn’t be a factor in the promotional process when there is an otherwise level playing field.

Congratulations to the soon to be new Lieutenants of New Haven. Stay safe and God bless!

We’ve been clearing trees on our property the past few years. A lot more sunlight is getting through — I’m not sure that is a good thing — and on the stumps we are raising a nice crop of fungus.



We don’t always stay home. Occasionally we drive around in Coal Country. Here’s a bit of what we saw this week.

Molino

Mahanoy City

Tamaqua.

Here in the glorious commonwealth the beauty is everywhere, all you have to do is look.

Today I had the opportunity to celebrate the opening of a renovated home dedicated to homeless veterans in Philadelphia. These individuals now have a place where they can get the help and guidance they need to put their lives back together.

This day was made possible by HGTV – Change The World Project and Rebuilding Together Philadelphia. A Hero’s Welcome and Warriors Watch organized their membership to attend the opening ceremony.

Volunteers who made this day happen:

Alex, I see the end results of the Philadelphia School District’s efforts every day when I have to review the ambulance charts from our Philly division EMTs and paramedics. Sentence structure is non-existent. Verbs are improperly conjugated. Medical terms are mangled – I’d rather read “bruised eye” than “ecchymotic orbit and maxilla” if they can’t spell it! As I tell my bosses in our NY HQ: this is why God invented Jim Beam and Old Grand Dad!

The Philly School District exists, IMN-SHO, to feed its children, warehouse them until they’re of legal age, then cut them loose and hope.

Reform will only occur when we hold the management accountable and that’ll only occur when we go to choice or for-profit systems.

THAT’S MY OPINION AND YOU’RE ENTITLED TO IT!

Too late! Another one escapes Obama’s Nationalized Healthcare Scheme:

TV Pitchman Billy Mays Found Dead
PopEater
posted: 4 HOURS 12 MINUTES AGO

The popular product pusher Billy Mays has died.
His wife found Mays — best known as the pitchman for OxiClean and star of many other TV infomercials — unconscious in their Florida home, TMZ reports.

Just remember…

In order to work in Philadelphia city government, you have to be a resident of the city.

A study to be released Monday says more than half of the working-age adults in Philadelphia lack the basic reading and arithmetic skills needed to do the majority of jobs in the city.

The study by labor economist Paul Harrington for the Philadelphia Workforce Investment Board says the average Philadelphia score for reading ability is 260 out of 500. But most jobs in the city, such as health care technicians, secretaries, and security guards, require workers with higher scores, ranging from 277 to 336, he said.

“If you have low literacy, you have a labor market that doesn’t welcome you,” Harrington said.

In math, nearly two-thirds of Philadelphia’s working-age adults are at or below basic levels, the study says.

Harrington calls Philadelphia “a city of extremes,” with jobs ranging from very high to very low literacy. The result, he said, is extremes in incomes, with those with low literacy living in poverty.

I cant imagine why people in the city find themselves in this predicament.

Not at all.

On the heels of a successful “Dont Die on Friday“, i’m calling for a moratorium on dying this week.

Now it’s Pennsylvania pitchman, Billy Mays.

TMZ has confirmed TV pitchman Billy Mays was found dead today in his home in Tampa, Florida early this morning.

According to the Tampa PD, the 50-year-old TV pitchman was found unresponsive by his wife Deborah at 7:45 AM.

TMZ has learned Mays’ body has already been removed from his home.

Mays had just returned from Philadelphia, where he shot a new OxiClean commercial. He was a passenger aboard a plane that suffered a blown front tire upon landing. He told a local TV station, “All of a sudden as we hit you know it was just the hardest hit, all the things from the ceiling started dropping. It hit me on the head, but I got a hard head.”

We’re told Mays was at his home around 6:00 PM last night, and according to a source Mays was “acting fine and normal … he was talking business with his father-in-law.”

What the hell is going on this week?

Re: “these things come in threes”

For Philadelphians, maybe Billy Mays marks #3. First was 6ABC’s Gary Papa, then WWDB’s Irv Homer.

Obama administration politicizing science?

Say it ain’t so.

Here is the roll call vote on Cap and Trade.

Written by Roberta Biros

Some interesting things happened in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives this week, and it is a topic well worth discussing. While it won’t be anything that you’ll read in your local paper or see on the news, it is IMPORTANT STUFF . . . and like most IMPORTANT STUFF, it is often overlooked . . . but not by me.

Senate Bill 850 (the “2009/2010 State Budget”) passed the Pennsylvania State Senate on May 6, 2009. It was referred to the House Appropriations Committee on May 7, 2009. A month-and-a-half later, the status of SB850 has not changed. It is still under the control of the House Appropriations Committee, with no hope of seeing the light of day any time soon.

On May 4, 2009, Representative Dwight Evans (D) introduced House Bill 1416 (the “2009/2010 State Budget”). On that day, HB 1416 was also referred to the House Appropriations Committee. Again, a month-and-a-half later, the status of HB 1416 has not changed. It is also still under the control of the House Appropriations Committee, with no hope of seeing the light of day any time soon.

Our Legislators are SUPPOSED to be working to finalize the 2009-2010 budget in Harrisburg, but they have yet to get an opportunity to VOTE on a budget. Why? Because everything is currently being held up in the Appropriations Committee.

This week, responsible lawmakers in Harrisburg decided to do something about the problem. They implemented the use of House Rule 53, “Discharge of Committees”, by submitting two Discharge Resolutions (DR1 and DR2) on June 25, 2009. According to House Rule 53:

A member may present to the Chief Clerk a resolution in writing to discharge a committee from the consideration of a bill or resolution which has been referred to it 15 legislative days prior thereto (but only one motion may be presented for each bill or resolution). The discharge resolution shall be placed in the custody of the Chief Clerk, who shall arrange some convenient place for the signature of the members. A signature may be withdrawn by a member in writing at any time before the discharge resolution is entered in the Journal. When 25 members of the House shall have signed the resolution, it shall be entered in the Journal and the title of the bill or resolution and the name of the committee to be discharged shall be printed on the calendar.

Any member who has signed a discharge resolution which has been on the calendar at least one legislative day prior thereto and seeks recognition, shall be recognized for the purpose of calling up the discharge resolution and the House shall proceed to its consideration without intervening motion except one motion to adjourn; however