Abington Changes - part 2

As promised, here's video of the Michelle Obama event at Abington High School. The video is the original broadcast of Abington News and Views, as it appeared on Channel 66 (Comcast Willow Grove).
White text overlaid is editorial commentary

Just 48 hours before the event, this type of politicking was not allowed on school grounds by Abington School District policy.

Thanks to the Abington School Board, video tomorrow, it now is...

Abington Changes

Michele Obama came to Abington High School yesterday to (uh hem) congratulate the township for being recognized as one of America's Best 100 Communities for Young People, by Colin Powell's America's Promise. This is the third consecutive year Abington has received the award, the only community in Pennsylvania to receive such an honor.

Problem. During her 50-minute speech, only 30 seconds of pre-written text were devoted to the honor. The rest was nothing short of a blatant politicking.

So what? Free speech is free speech right?

Normally, I would agree. However, until 48 hours prior to the event, politicking on Abington School District property was against it's own policy.

So what changed? Several events.

First, was the re-election of 4 school board members in 2005. Ray McGarry, Jeffery Bates, Barry Stupine, and Jo Blumenthal were all running as republicans. Their victory gave republicans a 6-3 majority. Then during the 2007 election year, 3 of those republicans changed their party affiliation; with Blumenthal remaining loyal to the party that supported her.

The change gave democrats a majority and as payback, McGarry was elevated to chairman. Two additional vacancies on the board were filled by, you guessed it, more democrats.

The changes did not come as a result of the ballot box. No, a power grab was the only reason for the switch. After a sweep in 2007, for re-election of 5 democrat board members, left the balance of power at 7 Democrats, 1 Republican, and Bates as an Independent.

Finally, less than 2 months after being sworn in, the board voted 6-1 to "temporarily suspend" (or change) the politicking regulations, to allow for Ms. Obama's rally. Two members were absent.

Voter registration tables were set up, campaign buttons and volunteer sign-up sheets were distributed, while a large Obama banner was nestled comfortably between 2 Abington School District banners. This obviously begs the question, is Abington's school district officially endorsing Obama?

During the school board meeting, township liason duo Barry Stupine and Michele Tinsman spoke about their desire to promote, via agressive marketing, Abington Township's 100 Best achievement. The honor which they want everyone to believe they earned. Unfortunately, when given the opportunity, the district was sold out to political agendas.

Thanks to the new Abington School Board, school grounds are open for propaganda. McCain's campaign would be wise to consider the newly-built football stadium as a backdrop in late October.

Is this the kind of change democrats have in mind?

Photo courtesy of Montgomery News. Video of the rally and the school board vote will follow shortly.

Interesting side note from this ludicrous event was Fast-Eddie Rendell's wing-man Josh Shapiro (State Representative 153rd district) appearing on stage to help rile up the crowd.

Ed's a known Clinton supporter and may not appreciate Josh's role here. The rising star of Pennsylvania politics Shapiro, better be careful not to upset the establishment.

Anti-Christ Truth

Here we go again. This time Glenn Beck is the target of another Media Matters (Clinton founded) hack job.

To see proof of how you are being duped by liberal bloggers and the main stream media (including MSNBC and the New York Times), and the lengths they will go to discredit conservatives, just watch this video.



For more proof, see page13news archives from September 29th, 2007 here

Selected Not Elected

Remember the outrage of leftists following the 2000 election when electoral votes gave the Oval Office to Bush, despite losing the popular vote?

Sidebar - once upon a time, and occasionally still, they cried about how the Supreme Court gave Bush the office, not the American people. Until they couldn't find a single independent study to prove Gore won Florida's popular vote.

The Democrat primaries have failed to provide a clear winner. Each side claims their candidate is more deserving than the other. Obama followed the rules and has both the popular vote and delegate lead. Hillary has the big momentum and super-delegates to fall back on.

It's an interesting quandary for the Democrat party. The rules established before the primaries began prohibited Florida and Michigan from moving their primary dates forward. When they did it anyway, leaders (Clinton lead at the time) chose to punish those states by stating their delegates wouldn't be recognized at the convention.

The Clinton machine never saw the possibility of Obama making this race competitive, so they thought they had nothing to lose. Hillary after all, was supposed to have this thing wrapped up by this point.

Now that she failed to secure the nomination, it's the Clinton camp arguing to count those two states while Obama is claiming (much like Republicans did in 2000) you can't change the rules after the results have been determined.

Florida and Michigan voters are saying, "hey, we count too". If the Democrats disenfranchise those voters, it can't possibly help their chances come November; two states they desperately need.

Younger voters who signed on for the Obama campaign, only to see it stolen right out from under them, will not be enthused about being denied their wish. Older voters with an ability to recognize socialism when they see it, will not hop on the Obama bandwagon and will turn to the more moderate-appearing McCain. A bonus for McCain are the veterans, who unlike their younger counterparts are reliable on election day.

Finally, Democrat voters are being shown their party for what it is. They are both hopeless agents for change, and lawyer-istic bullies who manipulate rules to gain what they want. Democrats are getting a good dose of what Republicans have been saying for years.

Seems funny to me, every time Presidential elections get complicated, Florida is somehow involved.

Circus is in Town

Six weeks until the Pennsylvania Primary. Six weeks of razzle-dazzle, smoke and mirrors, Obama rally fainting spells, Clinton "Monster" machine tactics, and of course, cries (literally) of CHANGE.

Republicans are weary of the anticipated swing of newly registered democratic voters over the final two weeks before the March deadline. A good number of the registrants will be due to the excitement of the moment that will capture the youth. However, others will be repeating what happened in Texas, where republicans lined up at the opportunity to put the final nail in the Clinton coffin.

Committeepeople in the Philly burbs are aware of this and have plans to counter the switch. The trio of Manion, Gerlach, and Kats give conservatives cool to McCain, somewhere to focus their attention.

Whether Hillary or Barack, the left represents a return to socialism and retreat from the war. If Hillary wins, the youth in the democrat party will feel robbed. Her negatives will also help GOP registration efforts. If Barack wins, he has to rely on the unreliable youth to show up, unlike they did for McGovern in 1968, the last time the youth were supposed to make an impact.

Republicans will have their own opportunity to increase registrations after the primary is over. Can they get their act together and capitalize?

Anti-Consensus

John Coleman, founder of the Weather Channel, is one of many meteorologists and scientists who are skeptical of Al Gore and others claims' the "science" of global warming is settled.

How skeptical are these experts? How does a lawsuit against Gore for financial fraud because he sells carbon credits as a solution to Global Warming sound?

A recent decision by a UK court found nine serious errors in Gore's movie, An Inconvenient Truth. Though the court did not stop the government's attempt to show the film in over 3,500 secondary schools, it ordered that it must be shown with "guidance points" so as to prevent political indoctrination.

Coleman won't say whether he will pursue a lawsuit, but does question Gore's motive. Last November, he referred to the Global Warming hysteria as the "Greatest Scam in History".

Yesterday marked the end of a three-day conference (though it was held in mid-town Manhattan it recieved NO media play) by over 200 climate experts who have serious doubts about the claims made by alarmists.

Let's see. In the first attempt to support their claims in court, Gore's team had to admit 9 serious flaws in his argument. It's funny how facts get in the way of inconvenient truths.

See the trailer of Snowjob here

Ward's of the State

Leave it up to the People's Republic of New Jersey, at a time I thought Governor Corzine was trying to cut expenses, to find a new way to make the public reliant on the government.

Six weeks of paid leave, PAID leave. It started out as a promise by the government to protect individuals from losing their job, should an extended illness by themselves or a family member cause them to miss significant time from work. Since, predictably, few people can survive without income during times like these, our caring politicians mount their white horses to save the day.

The bill, which the Gov promises to sign, will promise that our leaders will pay for up to six weeks leave, so individuals can care for sick family members. It will increase taxes, duh, but according to the union bosses, what a bargain...

"For $33 a year, this is the best social insurance program that money could buy," says Charles Wowkanech, president of the New Jersey State AFL-CIO.

No, nothing "social"ist about that concept.

I wonder what the politicians will give away next. They already promise food, money for shelter, and free education. If you still can't find success, they promise to pay for your health care or bail you out of a bad loan decision. If all that "help" still doesn't guarantee your happiness, no worries, they'll pay for your retirement and all the drugs you want as well.

One question - why stop at six weeks? It's simply not fair that the poorest amongst us have to work 46 weeks (minus vacation and personal time of course) to get paid for the 6 they need off to care for sick family members.

At a time when Jersey is leaking jobs like a bullet-riddled snitch, is this a solution to the Garden State's problems?

Penny Protest

Kids these days, I tell ya.

Actually, it seems there's hope for future generations. The unique plan by Readington, NJ middle-school students shows original thinking can flourish despite an overly uptight school administration and staff.

Protesting a decision to shorten their lunch period, more than two dozen students paid for their lunch, entirely with pennies. They used text messages to organize their effort. In some cases, the coins were wrapped, although I would have enjoyed it more had they left them in coffee cans.

Typical response by school administrators, they served the protesters two days detention.

"There are ways to express yourself that are not disruptive to other kids and disrespectful to staff," said Readington Superintendent of Schools Dr. Jorden Schiff.

It goes to show you that some educators are entirely too sensitive and easily out-classed by students nearly a quarter of their age. Give them an atta-boy for originality and get over yourself Doc.

Quite a different way to resolve a dispute than from the story below...