Re: Blogger Bucks August 23
Sheeeee-it.
…. I can’t believe we were doing this for free!
I feel like… … I feel like…. I’ve been taken advantage of.
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Blogger Bucks August 23
Alex may not be paying the Philly blogger tax, but is he taking in any of that blogger payola I’ve been reading about?
(And where do I send my invoices? Papa needs a new laptop.)
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Regular Programming Has Resumed April 1
My apologies if your regularly scheduled blog was interrupted.
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BlogNetNews March 9
Ok… I’ve decided to remove the BlogNetNews banner from this blog.
They’ve been broken lately, causing the front page to not load.
Jeez, guys.
Besides, does that thing even really matter?
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CPAC 2010 February 15
You can find me RedState’s Blogger Lounge! Thanks to Erick Erickson for having the good taste to credential MidnightBlue.
It is not too late for you to register for CPAC. Sen. Jim DeMint will kick things off and Glenn Beck will bring the roof down. On Thursday at 4pm you will have the opportunity to meet me as I join in a panel discussion with up and coming bloggers entitled ‘Blogger Free For All”.
For those who cannot attend, keep an eye on PAWatercooler as I’ll be filing reports from the conference.
This may get crazy, I give you fair warning.
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Guest Post: Can You Hear Us Now? January 26
Editor’s Note: Susan Staub is President of Pennsylvanians for Right to Work, Inc.
You can email her at SStaub@PARightToWork.org, or visit http://www.PARightToWork.org, or link up on Facebook.
Guest Post is a occasional feature at the watercooler… if you’d like to post a piece please email it to me, and I will put post it. Same rules apply as to the cooler contributors. You have to be a real person, no screen names… and it’s got to be watercooler topical. – Ed
That the impact of the election of Scott Brown to complete the term of Senator Ted Kennedy is huge is a given.
What does it mean for future political races and, more importantly, what message did President Obama, Senate Majority Leader Reid, and Speaker Pelosi receive?
First, they had to acknowledge that health care reform as they had crafted it and managed it was stopped in its tracks. Most observers agree that the methods were rejected more than the substance since, still today, nobody is quite sure what the final proposal looked like or that one even existed.
The wheels came off the bus when outrageous deals, which passed muster on no level, signaled desperation and often just plain goofiness! Whole states being exempted from Medicare matches? Unions exempted from provisions that would impact absolutely everyone else until the year 2017? The whole thing had gone beyond ludicrous and helped to form the perfect storm, which just happened to be in Massachusetts.
Rejection of the health care reform, however, was taking place from border to border and from ocean to ocean. The politicians were insistent that We the People just didn’t get it and, when we did, we’d love it. More than a few in DC are still clinging to that.
But that’s not what happened.
It isn’t that We the People didn’t “get it,” significant majorities of us didn’t want it and no amount of political effort was going to sell it.
So, what is DC doing now?
President Obama is a consummate politician and quite an effective communicator. Almost overnight, he has shifted gears from a plan he’s been putting deadlines on for urgent passage or the country would fall apart because we were in a “crisis” to the mantra that what we really need in this country is jobs.
In other words, when something is just totally dead in the water, change the subject.
We need jobs so we need more ‘stimulus’ has a strong chance of ending up in the ash heap, too. Again, people from coast to coast and border to border are keenly aware that the national debt is enormous, is impacting our standing in the world and is devastating our currency.
Emboldened by a significant grassroots victory, the message from citizens is crystal clear: Ignore us at your peril.
What seemed impervious just one year ago is now on very shaky ground and the political landscape is shifting faster than DC can shift priorities. The arrogance of power has cost them and has the potential to devastate on November 2, 2010.
Will they rush to shore up their base by giveaways to Union Officials who have clearly received favored status and expect more? Or, will they listen to the growing majority of very motivated and unyielding citizens and head back to reasonable, restrained and responsible?
One thing is certain: This is not going to be a boring, sedate year.
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Pawatercooler.com On the Tubes January 6
Yes, you can always come here to pawatercooler.com to read the blog, or you can become a fan of ours on Facebook.
If you are twitterly inclined, you can also follow us on Twitter!
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Haven’t Gotten One of These Emails for Awhile May 12
Anybody have water coolers?
Good Day,
This is Kevin Bossman, with regards to your company. I’m sending this email to know if you do carry (Back Bar Cooler) in stock for sale. I have not mention any size because i don’t know the sizes you do carry so i will like you to get back to me with the sizes and prices on them and also i will like know if you do accept Credit Cards as the form of payment and also remember to email me with your name and phone number for calling reasons. Hope to hear from you soon with your kind reply.
Best Regards
Kevin Bossman
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Hate Mail, Colin Powell Edition May 7
I haven’t gotten one of these for awhile. I should insult Colin Powell more often! Or should I say, Colon Bowel?
The hate mail:
I was reading the PAWatercooler, and I came across your opinion/attack on Colin Powell. He won a Silver Star for valor, a Purple Heart, and countless other military metals for dedicated service to the country. The fact that you would say he only got to where he is due to the color of his skin amazes me. I am not a bleeding-heart liberal either. I would have voted for Romney, but there are some evangelicals who equated being a Mormon with being in a cult preventing him from winning the nomination. I’d rather have a sharp business mind in office right now, and that person could be Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, Atheist, I don’t care. I mention my support for Romney to suggest to you that the rhetoric you used in your opinion of Powell is why the Republican party is a joke and why I have been driven out. I am 26 years old, college educated who is involved in the financial field. I should be Republican, but I am not, and it is due to the rhetoric you wrote, what that old woman in the midwest did when she said, “I can’t trust him. He’s Arab and a Muslim.”, etc.
My suggestion to you would be to stop with the vitriol and get back to advocating lower taxes, less government, free trade, a realist-mined foreign policy, and ignoring bedroom issues. You will probably call me a baby-killer, appeaser, elitist, etc. I just thought I could give you an opinion and suggest to you that there is a better way to move the party forward rather than what you wrote earlier.
My hateful reply:
Dear Anonymous Liar,
Yes, I’ve heard the “I would be a Republican if you weren’t mean” BS before. It’s all lies. Why? Because my incendiary remarks about Powell are about 1/100th as bad as the nonsense we’ve heard from the Democratic Party over the past eight years. If you were truly upset about “vitriol”, you would not be voting for anyone from any party, but most especially not any Democrat.
Romney was also my first choice for Republican nominee. I thought he was the best candidate. However, that’s irrelevant in this discussion; you use that only as a shield to defend your lying self.
You’re pro-abortion, so of course you adore Powell, a fellow pro-abort. That’s why you wrote this e-mail to me. And that’s fine. It would have been better if you just came right out and said that. But while you claim to abhor my vitriol, I abhor your dishonesty.
Go away, liar.
-John Lewandowski
Addendum:
Sorry for the “HATE!”, but these kinds of people drive me up a wall. Oh, how they would LOVE to be Republican, if ONLY the Republicans weren’t such HATERS! Yes, because there are no haters in the Democratic Party. And, a handful of haters in the Republican Party gives you NO CHOICE but to throw away your principles and belief in small government and lower taxes and vote for a tax ‘n’ spend leftist… because you just can’t vote for a member of a party if some of the people in that party are mean! Good thing there are no mean and hateful Democrats!
Gawd… talk about bull crap. Still, hate mail is hate mail…
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PaWatercooler.com Sold! April 1
Friends and fellow travellers,
I recently received an offer from the Obama Administration for the purchase of Pawatercooler.com.
President Obama and his administration had their attention turned to the ‘cooler by none other than Pennsylvania’s great statesman Congressman Jack Murtha. As part of the stimulus package (which will turn this economy around!), Congressman Murtha arranged for the purchase of the site and my considerable blogging talents for the purpose of lobbying the blogosphere, especially the naysayers out there in favor of the President’s 12 Trillion Dollar spending package.
Lest the Republican lie machine go into overdrive, I might as well clear the air right now.
Congressman Murtha, in his infinite political skill, directed the US Treasury to cut me a check in the sum of $475,500 for the site… with the understanding that I hire four persons (which he will name) as additional contributors (and board members) at a salary of no less than $75,000 per year.
To be clear, it is not an earmark. It’s a Congressional directive to the Treasury to spend money for a particular purpose. It’s the lubricant of the Republic… not an earmark.
The balance of the moneys ($175K) will be directed towards myself and the additional hiring of outbound GM CEO Rick Waggoner, who will be appointed Chief Executive Officer. Please welcome Mr Waggoner, whose considerable business talents will continue push the Pawatercooler to the head of the Pa blogosphere.
Regarding the employment status of my contributors. I thank them for their services, without their wordsmithing, the ‘cooler would not have become the valuable internet property that is today. It was a volunteer effort… but they deserve to be rewarded. The board of directors has let Mr Waggoner know that his first action as the ‘Cooler’s CEO will be to cut the contributors bonus checks for their tireless service. Sadly, the Chief Financial Officer has informed me that the ‘cooler as a recipient of stimulus money, is specially taxed at that stimulus-bonus rate of 90%… Not to be outdone, the Pennsylvania legislature has also enacted a special stimulus bonus tax for the remaining 10%.
Nevertheless, you have done great work, and will be missed.
You’re regularly scheduled PaWatercooler begins after this post…. now with 100% more Obamaganda.
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Manny, Moe and Jack get a Bonus March 25
The fervor over the AIG bonuses has pushed the Congress to become a lynch mob. They have whipped the media and the American people into a frenzy in an effort to pass legislation that may be popular to punish those AIG executives, but in reality is unconstitutional and just plain wrong.
I think we first need to understand what exactly these bonuses are, and that is not as easy as it may sound. The bonuses are retention bonuses, not performance bonuses. A retention bonus is a bonus paid to keep an employee with the company for some reason or another. A short example of this is, Manny, Moe, and Jack are all working for a company. Jack is the President and it was his business plan that started the company. He hires Manny to overlook production, and Moe to over see distribution. Manny and Moe are very good at their jobs, but are only focused on their job and do not know the other jobs, Jack doesn’t know jack about production or distribution, he only knows the administrative part of the business.
Now Jack sees Manny and Moe are getting ready to call it quits, so he offers them a cash bonus to stay for one year, giving Jack to either train someone to replace them or learn their job himself. This is what is known as a retention bonus. It keeps good employees in their job rather than lose them to other companies with exclusive knowledge of their specific jobs.
I like many others am against the US Government bailing out any private company, and I think executives profiting while a company are failing is frankly unconscionable, we still have an obligation to honor contracts. I think it is no different than the auto workers union and their collective bargaining agreement with the bailouts of the auto industry. Until the collective bargaining agreement runs out the auto companies have a legal obligation to honor them. After they run out they should decrease pay and benefits to a level that is sustainable to the company. But in both situations the government has no place telling AIG or any other company to not honor its contracts.
Not only are there contracts but in the legislation past last year, this type of bonus was allowed. So now you have a Law passed by congress, and contracts entered into by businesses. Now congress has the public up in arms, creating a lynch mob of the general public. Our government has taken this one step further, attempt to place an excessive tax on these bonuses.
Again I will quote our US Constitution
Article 1 Section 9 No bill of attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.
A bill passed by law, contracts entered into by companies and employees, and now the US Constitution. The elected officials in Washington, Republican and Democrats, have over the past few months really forgotten that they have rules they need to operate by, while preaching to Wall Street about how they have gone awry and become greedy, Washington has done the same. It does not matter if you agree with these bonuses or not, the US Constitution was written to protect us from an over zealous government. You may this one time wish to allow this, but if we the people stand for it just this once, we are telling our government that as long as they get enough people angry with a given situation, it is ok to violate the constitution. Every time we as a people allow it, we give them more and more power to shred the very fiber of our society.
Demand more from our elected officials.
Michael Zellner Jr.
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Fourth Best March 3
New baby!!!! Baby Best born at 7:12pm. 8 lbs. 9 oz. 22 in. Mom and Baby are healthy and well.
Congrats from all of us!
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Re: Twittering February 17
Welcome aboard Dale.
Some fellow ‘cooler twitterers to follow:
http://twitter.com/Mattbest – Matt Best
http://twitter.com/alexcharyna – Alex Charyna
http://twitter.com/SocklessJoe – Joe Collins
http://twitter.com/skye820 – Tania Gail
http://twitter.com/dblight – Dale Light
http://twitter.com/Morrison1861 – Michael Morrison
http://twitter.com/bilijohn – Bill Shaw
http://twitter.com/JS8588 – Julian Stolz
http://twitter.com/benwren – Ben Wren
http://twitter.com/pawatercooler – Pawatercooler
I think, by far, the best feature of Twitter is searching and hashtags.
Example: #PAtcot – Pa Top Conservatives on Twitter
stimulus – the stimulus zeigeist.
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Snow February 16
I just wanted to selfishly mention that I paid for a car wash on Saturday.
… and it snowed on Saturday night.
So my black vehicle now looks like crap.
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Re: RIP, Mark February 5
That is terrible news. I didn’t even know he was sick.
Eternal rest grant unto Mark, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace.
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Rest In Peace, Mark February 5
Last night, PaWatercooler contributor Mark Kilmer died of throat cancer.
Erik Erickson at Redstate has a wonderful tribute.
Mark will be missed…. and our thoughts and prayers are with his family.
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‘Cooler on Facebook January 28
If you’re one of the young kids with Facebook, please show your support and become a fan of the water cooler!
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Clarke for Council! January 27
Our own Hank Clarke is running for city council in Orwigsburg.
I believe that it is high time for government to tighten its belt right alongside its citizens. Many of us are tired of shelling out the equivalent of a mortgage payment to the borough each quarter, while council is purchasing $2000 bicycles for the police department that never get ridden.
As YOUR councilman, I pledge to immediately act to allow you to keep more of your own paycheck each month by approving the sale of the water and sewer system to Schuylkill County Municipal Authority. Furthermore, I will work hand in hand with other fiscally responsible members of council to make the business of government more efficient and cost-effective.
If elected, he would join Rich Talbert and Julian Stolz as our third elected ‘cooler contributor.
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Fare Thee Well, Mortman January 24
Friend of the watercooler, Howard Mortman is quitting blogging.
On February 4, I begin my new position at C-SPAN. Director of Communications. I will be responsible for C-SPAN’s relationships with both traditional and online media. I look forward to continue working with many of you in this exciting and new non-partisan, non-commentary basis. I am both thrilled and humbled to be joining C-SPAN and being part of a great American success story.
As for ending this blog, we turn to that old Sephardic proverb — Extreme Mortman: you’ve read the column, you’ve seen the show, and now you’ve lived the blog. One day, we promise, you’ll eat the sandwich.
Take care man.
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Upper Saucon Republican Considering Long Shot Bid to Beat Cunningham January 13
So far only one Republican name has been mentioned to counter Don Cunningham in his re election bid for Lehigh County Executive: Leo Mayoral.
Leo is a true Conservative and serves as a member of the Lehigh County Republican Platform Committee. The platform, according to the Lehigh County Republican Committee Website is
I’m a Republican because….
I BELIEVE the strength of our nation lies with the individual and that each person’s dignity, freedom, ability and responsibility must be honored.
I BELIEVE in equal rights, equal justice and equal opportunity for all, regardless of race, creed, sex, age or disability.
I BELIEVE free enterprise and encouraging individual initiative have brought this nation opportunity, economic growth and prosperity.
I BELIEVE government must practice fiscal responsibility and allow individuals to keep more of the money they earn.
I BELIEVE the proper role of government is to provide for the people only those critical functions that cannot be performed by individuals or private organizations, and that the best government is that which governs least.
I BELIEVE the most effective, responsible and responsive government is government closest to the people.
I BELIEVE Americans must retain the principles that have made us strong while developing new and innovative ideas to meet the challenges of changing times.
I BELIEVE Americans value and should preserve our national strength and pride while working to extend peace, freedom and human rights throughout the world.
FINALLY, I believe the Republican Party is the best vehicle for translating these ideals into positive and successful principles of government.
Mayoral is also of Hispanic heritage. From what I understand he is still weighing whether or not to make a run but an articulate Conservative Candidate from the Latino community would be a great step forward for Lehigh Republicans in their bid to gain the votes of that vital voting bloc in Allentown, Bethlehem, and elsewhere.
Unfortunately, the incumbent is viewed as popular despite his recent $12 million deficit budget he just successfully passed. Leo would have to hammer Cunningham on going back on his pledge of Fiscal Responsibility when he ran against Republican Jane Ervin after she raised taxes by 70%. The incumbent would also have a huge fund raising advantage, as he did when he unseated Ms. Ervin in 2005.
I’m also aware that there is another potential candidate out there who’s name has not been given to me. …yet.
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