Jenn November 20th, 2008
So maybe my weather guys weren’t so crazy…it looks like we are in for up to 6 inches of snow in the Pittsburgh metro are and more in the mountains (anywhere from 1-2 feet) tonight through tomorrow. It looks like the folks in Erie and Western NY could possibly see up to three feet of snow. I got a text from the Weather Channel at 3:00 AM heralding the news. It sure beat Barrack Obama’s 3:00 AM text to announce his VP when Drudge had already scooped the story.
The weather guys are trying to wrap their arms around this, so no doubt, I will post more later. It looks as though my friends from Tennessee (Lauren and Justin) in for the Steeler game risk getting stuck here for an extra day. It least it will make for a very interesting (but cold) Steeler game tonight.
Jenn November 17th, 2008
I have begun my winter ritual of following the blogs at Accuweather, which discuss the different weather models and their implications. These are the guys who usually get me excited about a potential white-out while the rest of you say, “The forecast doesn’t say anything about a storm.” Here are a few tidbits I have picked from the blogs of Henry Margusity and Elliot Abrams.
- This will be the coldest December in the last 20 years (no joke!)
- The next 45 days are slated to be much colder than normal (so much for global warming)
- Both Abrams and Margusity see the possibility for storms this weekend and next week. That could make for some interesting games at the WPIAL championships this weekend. It could also make for some long waits at the airports next week in time for Thanksgiving travel.
Stay tuned…if the storms gain more traction in the models, I will be sure to blog about it.
Jenn November 16th, 2008
Andrew Pierson (#79) looks on as Bethel Park scores against McKeesport
Bethel Park edged out PA state ranked #3 McKeesport in WPIAL AAAA semifinal playoff action last night. Bethel Park will take on Gateway (Monroeville) next week at Heinz Field for the WPIAL AAAA Championship, the next step in state-wide playoffs.
Gateway is ranked number #1 in Pennsylvania AAAA and #3 in the country in USA Today’s Super 25 poll. Gateway is ranked #1 in the USA Today’s East rankings and Bethel Park is ranked #6.
Great job, Bethel Park.
Jenn November 14th, 2008
I am awake late due to a pretty bad stomach virus so I thought I would throw out some quick hits:
- Mike Huckabee has added a new news radio show to his media makeover. His show will be a brief take on the news starting Jan. 5th. I think it will be more long the lines of Paul Harvey than Rush Limbaugh.
- The Romney people are still bitter about Huckabee and taking cheap shots at him..check out political blog comments to see what I mean. I have one thing to say to them….”Wahhhh!” Romney is a wash but Huck is here for a while.
- Is it just me, or does it seem obvious that other Republican leaders are visibly jealous of Sarah Palin’s popularity?
- The RNC filed a lawsuit today to have McCain-Feingold declared unconstitutional. How poetically ironic.
- Hillary Clinton is rumored to be on the short list for President-elect Obama’s Secretary of State. Bring back the royal food tasters, she’d be third in line for the presidency.
- A Catholic Priest in South Carolina informed parishioners that if they supported Barrack Obama they needed to do penance before they could take communion because of his gross anti-life stance.
- The Steelers are having a pretty good season considering the amount of injuries they have sustained. Most teams would have losing records right now, not be at the top of their divisions given they way they have been beat up.
- What’s the deal with fining Steeler players for legal hits and only explaining they are hitting too hard? It is football, right?
- I found the three freebies from the new SG album (T4G Live) completely underwhelming. It might be nice for people who did not grow up in a mainstream church, but it did not feature new arrangements, new lyrics, or even exceptional talent. It’s just a bunch of guys singing hymns that are available on other albums with better arrangements, so what’s the point? The only plus is that Bob always sounds good, but he is hard to hear most of the time.
- I still have the best dog in the world, who has been very patient with a sick owner for the last three days.
Jenn November 11th, 2008
Tonight I participated in a focus group funded by a “Republican leaning” group to discuss views on possible health care proposals. The fundamental problem with all of them was that they opened the door for more government involvement in your personal health care decisions. It sounded good to some of the participants to make it a law that all children must have health insurance. When I pointed out that this meant that the government could now dictate that your children must have all immunizations ( I am a big fan of immunizations , by the way - not opposed to them) if they were providing health care for your children and would have greater influence into your decisions, some of the participants changed their mind. It is amazing how liberal ideas seem good because they seem compassionate, but because they increase the role of government in our lives liberal thinking often drags other moral issues and into the mix, giving government more authority in the life of a child than the parent. The moderator kept stressing that many of these ideas were sponsored by Republicans. Nonetheless, all involved some type of government mandate, increased spending, and infringed upon the free market.
I think we may see Republicans, in the name of bipartisanship, starting to compromise Conservative values on some of these soft issues that tug at the hearts of well intentioned people and jump on the Obama ship.
Interestingly enough, the proposals contained some of John McCain’s, some of Barrack Obama’s, and at least one of Mitt Romney’s. The closest thing to what I would consider a Conservative proposal was a tax cut for small and middle sized businesses that offer health insurance to their employees. If this is the current reflection of Republican thought from our representatives and senators, we are in for at least two, if not four years of liberal policy.
On an interesting note, the moderator commented that people in the Pittsburgh group had expressed a greater confidence in the current state of health care in the United States. Every member of the group indicated that he or she felt that despite its shortcomings, Americans had the best health care of any nation.
Jenn November 11th, 2008
Chuck brought the kids out for a quick trip last night. The kids seemed pretty excited to be in Pittsburgh (who wouldn’t be excited to be in Pittsburgh?). We took a trip to the Pittsburgh Children’s Museum today before they had lunch and headed back to Cleveland.
A couple of the highlights were watching William learn how to whistle and watching Elisabeth give Buddy some very perplexing looks.
Jenn October 29th, 2008
Many polls paraded before us by the media show the spread between Obama and McCain in the double digit area in Pennsylvania. Both campaigns have almost camped out in PA for the last week. If the polls show that PA is gone to Obama, why would both campaigns spend so much time here (besides the fact that it is a great state)?
Jenn October 24th, 2008
Michael Henninger/Post-Gazette
Palin scores TD with Dems at stadium
This is a pretty decent article about the Palin rally last night. Good job from the local newspaper on coverage of the event. Too bad the national media is too in the tank for Obama to notice the significance of the event. People in Western Pennsylvania sure noticed.
Jenn October 24th, 2008
Gov. Palin was greeted by an enthusiastic crowd tonight in Beaver, PA. Around 6, 000 packed the Beaver Area High School Football stadium on a chilly Western PA night.
Jenn October 24th, 2008
McCain supporter robbed, assaulted - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
In a very sad turn of events, a volunteer for the McCain-Palin campaign was mugged, assaulted and and had a “B” carved into her face by a very angry supporter of Barrack Obama. The victim has been contacted by Senator McCain, Gov. Palin, and Senator Obama’s campaign issued a statement wishing the victim a speedy recovery.
