School Board 911?

I think it's over the top. I would be pretty annoyed as well.

Carrier issue? Way to pass the buck.

"It's not an emergency, but it's a way to communicate to people to get out and vote," Fishbein said.

Well, if it's not an emergency, then you should not be employing an emergency alert system to communicate!

Slightly OT, but I hate this time of year. The other night I was preparing dinner and the doorbell rings. It was some local WO politician trawling for votes. She proceeded to call me by the previous homeowner's name. If she had done her homework, she would have seen that the home traded hands back in November. Generally, I am not impressed by the door-to-door approach or pre-recorded phone messages at inopportune times.

CNN.com is reporting that Bush raised the Terrorist Threat Level to Orange in light of Tax Day.

Don't forget!! Y'all we needs the cheddar!!!

They've done this same thing in Bloomfield, thankfully not at 1 AM. I can't recall what idiotic thing they called for but it was not an emergency. And of course it was McCarthy's voice on the message not long before the last election.

If they want to do stuff like this then they should have a two tier system, one for emergencies and one for other stuff and give us the chance to opt in or out.

Democracy is such a pain in the ass!

"Bush raised the Terrorist Threat Level to Orange."

And rightfully so, Prof. Taxation is a terrorist act!

MM's personal threat level is clearly RED.

So is mine, which is why, like many, I prefer to act like it does not exist.

(So my actual threat level is Green- Low).

I'm just bitter because I have to pay capital gains taxes this year. Grrrr!

Cheaper than what Obama wants you to pay you HAVE you.

(And how dare you flaunt your "capital gains" here, don't you know the "middle class" is being squeezed?....)

Sorry, I'm just bitter!

Yes, I am part of the middle class squeeze, so to speak. And yeah, I am well aware of Obama's take on the matter. But, more importantly, take a look at his charitable donation record. From the National Review:

Below is the percentage of the Obama's adjusted gross income that went to charity for each year (and this even includes Rev. Wright's church-o-hate):

2006: 6.1%
2005: 4.7%
2004: 1.2%
2003: 1.4%
2002: 0.4%
2001: 0.5%
2000: 0.9%

Note the increase when he decided to throw his hat in the ring.

The 'Obamster' should spend some $ on bowling lessons.

On the other hand, the dude has definately spent some time shooting hoops. The video of him playing in a pick up basketball game clearly indicates that he is a 'baller', therefore he has my vote as I spent my formative years at the Orange YMCA running ball with all manner of high school, college and professional ball players.

Perhaps the increased percentage accords with higher income, Miss M.?

Anyway, you should be celebrating having capital gains to pay taxes on!

By that standard, MellonBrush, Bill Bradley really should have been President. And Jim Bunning should be Speaker of the House.

More street cred for Obama--

Brotha's a Baller!!!

Yes, it was very bad form for the school district to use a "Alert" system for reminding people to vote -- it doesn't matter what time it was. Also, does the Alert system extend to those who do NOT have kids in the GR schools? Shouldn't they be encouraged to vote too?

Hey Prof! Since yer bitter, should I look for ya at the next Bring-yer-Gun-to-Church Day? ?? (Look for me, dressed like Annie Oakley!) HAW HAW

If they want to do stuff like this then they should have a two tier system, one for emergencies and one for other stuff and give us the chance to opt in or out.

Not only that, they should have a system that allows residents to register their non-published numbes, wireless devices or email for notifications. As far as I know, the systems such as used by Bloomfield and Glen Ridge are "reverse-911" systems that only call published phone numbers within a specific geographic area. This leaves out a lot of people, including those with non-published numbers and those who have forsaken landlines altogether.

Through all the din surrounding Obama's "poor choice" of words, I've heard very little discussion as to whether he was right in what he said. Is what he said, while clearly not politically correct, off-base? Aren't those who bemoan the glut of politically correct speech now whinging over someone telling it like it is, as Mr. Cosell would have said?

Well, for me, being bitter just means I gripe a lot more on the internet.

Cathar,

What I wouldn't give to see just a glimmer of the classic Knicks of 1969 today.

'Dollar' Bill was the one of the best 'swing' men in the game. He was a study in constant motion, mostly without the ball and when he got the ball usually about 18 to 22 feet out he rarely missed - I could here the swish in my living room.

Being originally from Pennsylvania, AND insulted by Barrack's comments I'm torn CRO. Yes, people back there are bitter that both the Clinton and Bush admins promised them plenty, and delivered nothing, but at the same time I'm failing to grasp how he can take the statement further, and label Keystoners as racists and religious zealots. Judging from your post, you may agree somewhat with his views, and I'll be the first to admit that there are certainly racists and zealots hiding in the woods of PA, but no more than in our respectable little community here. Are far as the last portion of your post, I do agree with you. I find it funny that Barrack's people are now defending his statements, saying he wasn't thinking he was speaking to the press, i.e, these are his beliefs, he just won't air them publicly.

Pork Roll, good point. I receive a call at home and on my cell for some things. I believe I signed up with the Bloomfield and gave them both numbers, but it may work in more than one way depending on the event. When the snow emergency happened a couple seasons ago I got a message on both phones to get cars off the street. When we had that call about a disoriented person near the GR/BLM border it came only to the home number, which would hint at that alert being geographic.

No mist, I don't think that PA has more racists, whatever, than anywhere else. And I don't think that Obama was talking about just PA, or that he was saying that these folks are racist. I think he was saying that people, when frustrated, often pin blame for their situation on scapegoats, and that very often those scapegoats are the visible and perhaps obvious ones, rather than those who should shoulder the responsibility. I can remember George Bush senior, a blueblood if ever there was one, munching on pork rinds in Texas as if they would ever get near his table in Kennebunkport, all in a move calculated to paint him as just "a guy". Like Hillary with her shots and beers and guns, and all of them really. I just think that, looking objectively at what Obama said and not personalizing it because one doesn't like him or whatever, there is some truth to it.
but it is more fun these days to immediately bash anyone with whom you (not YOU personally, mist) don't agree with.

That's fair CRO, I'll admit I wasn't a huge Obama fan to begin with, and this certainly hasn't served to change that. At the same time I don't think people in that region blame Obama or Hillary or McCain, nearly as much as they do government in general. To me, it was a swipe at common folk who really didn't deserve it.

Croiagusanam, I for one don't think Obama was at all telling it "like it is" with his dismissal of blue-collar (read Caucasian) voters. He made, among rich folk and in way too liberal San Francisco, blithe assumptions that they probably share, that's all. Of course he, and they when and if they ever go, attend services for more "serious," higher purposes. (Such as Obama's own unheeding 20 years of Wright's "get whitey" tirades, we can thus assume.) They certainly don't drink beer directly out of cans and they never plink .22's at the empties.

Obama may claim he, uh, "misspoke" and/or got lost in the moment. But to me his remarks sounded well-crafted and perfectly tailored to his audience, which was made up of, well, let's put it this way, effete liberal snobs. This is not a uniter, in other words. He is, however, someone who could stand to read a little Studs Terkel or even Eric Hoffer. That he views blue-collar voters as such disposable equivalents of pond scum at the ballot box is chilling. He even flayed them for their protectionist sentiments, neglecting the fact that his own party, led in this aspect by Nancy Pelosi, is equally anti-internationalist of late re trade issues.

Far more interesting to me, however, are the recent revelations that, despite his attacks on Hillary Clinton for taking money from lobbyists and his comparable assurances to his fans (are you reading this, laserboy?), he has in fact taken quite a bit of cash from both, with the balance tipped to executives of oil and gas companies. So he has lied on this issue, and quite blatantly, and several times. All this weas admirably summed up in James Taranto's column in the WSJ yesterday.

The politically correct thing is indeed to claim that Obama transcends race, class and even mpst petty political concerns. The reality appears to be quite different. But the funniest thing I've read recently about the Democratic party is that Jimmy Carter, perhaps the worst President of the 20th century and surely of the last 40 years, intends to use his "influence" to convince Senator Clinton to concede ASAP to Obama. That Carter is even presumed to have any moral right to do any such thing by anyone, it's just amazing to me. That Carter, the man who seems be from both Plains and Hamas lately, himself thinks he is so qualified is well beyond ridiculousness.