Friday, December 18, 2009

The Meaning Of Christmas



Getting a teensy tinsel bit contemplative the week before Christmas. What does Christmas mean to you? Are we feeling Christmas-y in this country this year?

As I walked the center of Wayne this week, I saw the trappings of Christmas. I was actually thrilled that people were saying "Merry Christmas" and not just "Season's Greetings".

The phrase "Season's Greetings" and the phrase "Happy Holidays" bugs the crap out of me. Say the word people, you won't burn in hell. It just befuddles me that we can wish each other well for every other holiday known to man and co-opted by Hallmark, yet that "Christmas" word starts a war each year.

You have the politically correct versus the super conservative religious right. Where do those of us in the middle go? The ones who celebrate Christmas and wish their friends well who have alternative celebrations and traditions?

I saw this comment on a Chicago Tribune editorial today that says:
Twas the night before the war on Christmas and all thru Fox News,
not a free thinker was stirring, because you know it's not news.
The talking points were placed in the prompters with care,
in hopes that Fox viewers would be clueless and scared.
The pundits were nestled all smug at their desks,
as delusions of Glenn Beck haunted the rest.
And Greta with her lockjaw and Sean with his yap
had just settled down after broadcasting their crap.
When out from the Mainstream there arose such a clatter,
Bill-O sprang from his compound to see what was the matter.
Away to the media he flew like a flash,
and tore into sinners and deemed them all trash.
When what to his cynical eyes did appear
but a fake War on Christmas like he fights every year,
Most vapid crusaders like lemmings they came
and he whistled and shouted and called them by name.
Now Brett Baer, now Britt Hume, now Glenn Beck and Van Sustern,
On Cavuto, on Kilmead, on Doocie, John Gibson!
To the edge of insanity and the thick on the brawl
now bash away, bash away, bash away all.
Bill-0 Sprang from his program to his team gave a whistle
and again they all whined like crazy wing-net people.
And I heard him complain like he does every night,
Happy War on Christmas to all and to all a fake fight!

Hat tip to Ken in Cleveland and Shayno.

zabes_ (12/18/2009, 7:50 AM )


So as we get ready for snow, and as I officially had my feet run over by the snow crazies in Genuardi's this morning, are we in the Christmas spirit? Are we feeling Christmas-y? Or are we all just quasi blah humbugging along because our country is in the economic toilet in hell?

Everyone I know is afraid to spend money...well almost everyone I know. Some of the spend gals oblivious who haven't worked since dinosaurs roamed the earth or since they bagged their own Daddy Warbucks are ch-ch-charging away.

So will it be a year of simple gifts or spending like the world is coming to an end?

Heated debate again over 'War on Christmas' claims
By Kristi Keck, CNN
December 18, 2009 8:01 a.m. EST

Americans are in a war that pits the politically correct against Christmas carolers, some say. They say it's a battle that plays out in the halls of Congress, retail stores and public schools across the country, and it's one that's been raging for years.

Republican Rep. Henry Brown of South Carolina introduced a resolution this month asking that the House express support for the use of Christmas symbols and traditions and frown on any attempt to ban references to the holiday.

"Each year, I could see a diminishing value of the spiritual part of Christmas," Brown said. "It would seem like another group would go from the Christmas spirit to the holiday spirit."

"What I'm afraid of -- if we don't bring some kind of closure to this continuous change, then in 20 years it will almost be completely different from what we see today ... and so we would lose the whole emphasis of what the very early beginnings of Christmas was all about."

So far, the resolution has one Democrat and 72 Republicans as co-sponsors. The House hasn't taken it up, but the chamber adopted similar resolutions in the past....some people feel a "false sense of some kind of attack on Christmas" if a school holds a winter concert instead of a Christmas concert, or if retailers declare "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas."

Nastyball, Anyone?


So apparently the youth in this area can't behave at basketball games? Anti-Semitic slurs vs. Good Ol' Boy Racist Comments?

Lovely.

Posted on Fri, Dec. 18, 2009
Anti-Semitism arises at U. Darby game
By Mari A. Schaefer, Joelle Farrell, and Robert Moran
Inquirer Staff Writers

A varsity basketball game between two of the region's best-known suburban high schools took an ugly turn Tuesday night when a handful of students yelled anti-Semitic chants.

The episode during a game between Upper Darby and Lower Merion set off concern among parents, quick action by school officials, and an apology to Lower Merion from Upper Darby's school superintendent.

The chants came from a few teenagers among several hundred spectators in Upper Darby High's gym during the last half of the boys' basketball game.

Two Lower Merion parents in the stands said they had heard spectators chant, "Warm up the ovens."...The two Lower Merion parents who sat near the Upper Darby fans section said they also had heard, "You're so Jewish, get your yarmulke," and, "We'll write you letters when you're in Auschwitz" - and shouted at the teens to stop.


Just lovely. See what we are teaching our children? Aren't you all proud? UGH. Just UGH.

Conshy King in a Spot of Trouble in Malvern?



Hmmm....the King of the "Millennium" seems to be having a spot of trouble? O'Neill getting a whopper of a judgement against him? Is this Merry Christmas Monster Developer?

Friday, December 18, 2009
O’Neill facing $61M ruling
Philadelphia Business Journal - by Natalie Kostelni Staff Writer

Citizens Bank has secured a $60.9 million judgment against the developer of Uptown Worthington who borrowed money from the financial institution to construct the sprawling project in Malvern.

The judgment was entered in Montgomery County Court on Nov. 12 against Brian O’Neill after the bank and developer had tried to work out new terms on the loan, according to court documents.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Ho, Ho, Ho..What a Shocker - Bashore is Suing...



Blow me over with a feather! Dave wants his annual bonus any way he can get it? Bashore, Bashore, Bashore...must you be quite so predictable...and trying your case ahead of time in the press? Didn't work so well for Milton Street and Fumo, now did it?

And correct me if I am wrong but didn't Bashore turn over that information fairly willingly? And he was a public official, right?

Radnor, ex-township manager in court
Published: Thursday, December 17, 2009
By TIMOTHY LOGUE
tlogue@delcotimes.com

Armed with a damning forensic audit, Radnor officials are now looking to recoup $1.08 million from ousted township Manager David A. Bashore.

“On behalf of the township, the treasurer filed a judgment against Bashore (Wednesday) in Common Pleas Court under the surcharge provisions of the state and the Home Rule Charter for the misappropriation of funds,” said Neil Morris, special counsel for Radnor Township.

A forensic audit conducted by Bala Cynwyd-based Marcum LLP claimed Bashore compiled $377,762 worth of “inappropriate, unauthorized or undocumented expenditures” during his tenure, which began Jan. 1, 2001, and ended with his firing April 13.

An attorney with the Philadelphia firm Archer & Greiner, Morris was initially retained to look into township employee practices and policies. More recently, he was retained to represent township Treasurer John Osborne in the surcharge filing.

In addition to the expenditures detailed in the forensic audit, Morris said the township is also demanding Bashore reimburse the more than $600,000 in lump-sum bonuses he paid out to various township employees without board approval.

“The facts are what they are and the audit says what it says, which is why the district attorney and FBI are looking into this matter,” Morris said.

Monday, Bashore filed an invasion of privacy complaint against the board of commissioners, Marcum and its lead forensic investigator for the Bashore audit, Joseph Barbagallo, CPA.

The suit, which Bashore filed in Common Pleas Court with his wife Kelly, centers on the inclusion of the couples’ tax returns in the audit and the township’s decision to post the information on its Web site.

In a press release, Bashore cited “egregious breaches of confidentiality” by the defendants and said he would seek damages.

Citing “ongoing criminal investigations by several agencies,” Barbagallo had little to say about the Bashore suit.



Posted on Thu, Dec. 17, 2009
Radnor sues former township manager for $1M
By WILLIAM BENDER
Philadelphia Daily News
benderw@phillynews.com 215-854-5255


The fallout from a million-dollar scandal involving former Radnor Township Manager Dave Bashore made its way from the Main Line to Media this week with the filing of opening legal volleys in Delaware County Court.

Township Attorney Neil A. Morris yesterday entered a $1,008,512 judgment against Bashore, seeking to recoup money that Bashore had paid himself and township employees in the form of secret bonuses, as well as other taxpayer funds that Bashore allegedly misspent.

The judgment, filed on behalf of Radnor Treasurer John Osborne, follows the release of a forensic audit report that accuses Bashore of altering public records, of misusing his township-issued credit card and of handing out huge bonuses to employees to ensure that they remained loyal to him.