Looks like we could have just stayed here yesterday. Right after the rally, she drove from here from Johnstown, and made a surprise stop at Way Farms just down the road before she flew from here to Philly to drop the puck at the Rangers-Flyers game.

The Washington rally was all day. After the entertainment, there was some local politician, then Diana Irey, then Lynn Swann, then Tom Ridge, and only then, McCain and Palin. It was also the first rally after McCain announced Palin in Dayton, only two days later (that will be relevant in a moment).

Before I go on, you’ll recall that my crappy little Canon decided on the day of the Washington rally to stop working, so we had to buy a new camera in Washington. That will also be relevant shortly.

So I grabbed the new camera and headed out the door. After picking up the Mystery Blogger, we headed to Johnstown, some eighty miles away.

The Washington rally was held in a Minor League stadium. The Johnstown rally was in an indoor arena. When we got to Johnstown, the first clue that maybe leaving earlier would have been a good idea was the line of thousands of people all the way around the stadium, then way down the street. There were lines at Washington, of course, but nothing like the lines today. Talk about despair (that will also become relevant). It turned out that leaving earlier wouldn’t have made any difference, since we stood in line for maybe an hour before it started moving.

We didn’t grab seats. Instead, we stood on the floor, about 100 feet away from the podium on the stage. Ah, pictures! I know that’s what you’re thinking. Well, think again.

Today was the day I discovered that my brand new camera — rather, the lithium battery inside — bleeds power. Or maybe I accidentally left it on when I transferred the pictures from the first rally to my computer, and it doesn’t go to sleep. Anyway, turn the camera on, and it does nothing.

So no, there are no pictures, and that’s really irritating, because I could have gotten really good closeup shots, considering how close we were and the zoom on the camera. Of course, had I known, I could have picked up a new battery when I went to Wal-Mart early this morning, but I didn’t and the rally is over, so life goes on.

This time, there was no local entertainment, nor other politicians. Aaron Tippin came out and introduced Sarah, then she came out with Bristol, Piper, and Trig.

I’m glad to say that the rally was nothing like the one Bitter and Sebastian attended. It was well organized, if minimal, and ran smoothly once they started letting people in. There were about 20-30 Obamatrons across the street, but they were well behaved. There was to and fro shouting and chanting, but nothing beyond, although one of the Obamatrons was obviously confused. He kept yelling, “KKK!” so he must be under the mistaken impression that Robert Byrd is a Republican.

Sarah was good. Really good. The arena just went nuts. The Mystery Blogger and I agreed that she’s getting even better, and she was really good to start with. Remember the convention speech?

There were between 6 and 7 thousand there. I know this because the arena seats 6,000, and every seat was full, so there’s the minimum. The floor holds another 2,000 and somewhere between 1/4 - 1/3 of the floor was packed. So 6,000 and change.

I got a free Russell Brigade T-shirt (Boots on the ground!), and the Brigade was handing out free coffee and hot chocolate, too (if they’d been Democrats, the “freebies” would have come with “suggested donations.”) Course, this is Peterson’s district, but the 12th is next door, and I figure the most important congressional race in the state is Russell v. Murtha.

But back to the rally. First, it wasn’t a rehash of her convention speech. There were some new topics, like a spending freeze (can we all say “Thank God!” together?) and balancing the federal budget (say it again, folks!) What I really want to focus on, however, is the difference between the people at the rally and a great many in the blogosphere.

I am really fed up with two things I’ve been seeing a lot of lately: Whining, and this air of desperation that seems to have set in with some bloggers, but more, their commenters. I didn’t see any of that today, not in the people who drove to that rally (and some drove a lot further than we did). These people were enthusiastic. Pumped up. These people are not staying home on Election Day, and nobody was whining. And when I say I’m fed up, that’s vastly understating the case. It would be more accurate to say that all the whining and moaning really pisses me off, because I’d bet almost anything that 99% of these whiners and moaners haven’t donated a penny and haven’t volunteered. But of course, we all have a right to their opinion, so they tell us what McCain should do, and what he should not do, and they just need to STFU. Anyway, if I don’t stop now, I’m really going to start ranting, so I’ll stop. But check out the commenters at Hot Air, if you want to see all this whining and bitching and all this desperation in action. Me, I’m done with comment threads on those sites until after the election.

Nice drive back. Beautiful day, about 66, and not a cloud in the sky.

Seriously. These are the three candidates running for Peterson’s House seat. Thompson is the Republican, McCracken is the Democrat, and Fryman is the Libertarian.

No matter who wins, we’ll have the ugliest representative in the House.

I wouldn’t let this get out, if I were you — and I certainly wouldn’t say it anywhere near Pennsylvania or West Virginia.

I don’t think there’s much of a role for clean coal in energy independence, but I do think there’s a significant role for clean coal in the bigger picture of climate change. Clean-coal technology is not the route to go in the United States, because we have other, cleaner alternatives. But I would invest a considerable amount of money in research and development of clean-coal and carbon-sequestration technologies for export.

McCain and Palin are going to have a rally in Delaware County, PA Monday. That’s exactly where they should be, in the Philly suburbs.

This is what I get for not going back a second time to check Rasmussen yesterday. Latest from Pennsylvania.

The race for Pennsylvania’s 21 Electoral College votes is tied.

The latest Fox News/Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the state finds Barack Obama and John McCain each attracting 47% of the vote (demographic crosstabs available for Premium Members). Eighty-three percent (83%) of Obama voters are certain they will vote for him and not change their mind before Election Day. An identical percentage of McCain voters say the same thing.

So if they’re tied, 34% of likely voters are soft support for both candidates.

McCain’s favorability ratings are going up, while Obama’s are going down:

McCain is viewed favorably by 60%, up three points from a week ago. Obama’s ratings are at 52% favorable, down three points.

And:

Also, by a 51% to 42% margin, voters in the Keystone State trust McCain more than Obama.

Bitter, clingy voters refuse to submit to His Changeyness!

George Will will be speaking on the Altoona campus November 20. They’re already running TV ads.

Every time, they sink to new depths of lameitude. Jennifer Rubin says the wheels are off the bus. I’d say that happened on September 3rd. Forget the wheels. The axles are off, and the crank case is scraping the ground. And speaking of, why is this in the British press, but not here?

The [Democratic] aide said that her [Palin’s] repeated mockery of Mr Obama’s boasts about his time as a community organiser in Chicago are “the most effective criticisms of Barack Obama we have yet seen.” He said: “Americans in small and medium size towns dont know what the hell a community organiser is. Real Americans graduate from high school or college and get a job that pays a wage. Campus radicals go off and organise a community.”

Bingo!

John McCain this morning in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

“No American living then should ever forget the heroism that occurred in the skies above this field on September 11, 2001. It is believed that the terrorists on United Flight 93 may have intended to crash the airplane into the United States Capitol. Hundreds if not thousands of people would have been at work in that building when that fateful moment occurred, and been destroyed along with a beautiful symbol of our freedom. They and, very possibly I, owe our lives to the passengers who summoned the courage and love necessary to deny our depraved and hateful enemies their terrible triumph.

“I have witnessed great courage and sacrifice for America’s sake, but none greater than the sacrifice of those good people who grasped the gravity of the moment, understood the threat, and decided to fight back at the cost of their lives.

“I spoke at the memorial service for one of them, Mark Bingham. I acknowledged that few of us could say we loved our country as well as he and all the heroes of September 11 had. The only means we possess to thank them is to try to be as good an American as they were. We might fall well short of their standard, but there is honor in the effort.

“In the Gospel of John it is written, ‘Greater love hath no man than this: that a man lay down his life for his friends.’ Such was their love; a love so sublime that only God’s love surpasses it. I am in awe of it as much as I am in debt to it. May God bless their souls.”

McCain and Obama are appearing together at Ground Zero later today. Governor Palin will speak at a 9/11 memorial service in Alaska.

This is from Rasmussen’s latest poll results. This is like posting something from the WSJ (at least before they dropped the subscriber firewall). I’m a Rasmussen subscriber and I’m not sure what’s behind the firewall and what isn’t. So if this link doesn’t work for you, this one will (though it won’t have all of the information — that’s the point of subscribing). Like yesterday’s Gallup poll, Rasmussen has McCain ahead of Obama (51-44), but the results from the battleground states (Colorado, Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia) are particularly interesting. (Insert standard disclaimer about polls here — and do I have to keep doing this? You people know by now, right?) For each state MOE: ±4.5, 95% CI, N=500 LV.

A collective look at all five states confirms the overall sense that the race for the White House is very competitive and that these five states will be considered key battlegrounds. Four of the five state polls show the candidates within 3 points of each other. The sole exception—Ohio—shows McCain with a 51% to 44% advantage and also remains competitive.

[ . . . ]

Ohio—shows McCain with a 51% to 44% advantage and also remains competitive.

[ . . . ]

A number of themes emerge from the data that are consistent across all five states:

· McCain is trusted more than Obama in all five states.

· In all five states, McCain is viewed more favorably than Obama.

· Also, in all five states, Sarah Palin draws higher “Very Favorable” ratings than any other candidate.

· In all states except Colorado, McCain enjoys a bigger margin among Republicans than Obama does among Democrats. In Colorado, they are even.

· Economic issues are the top issue in all five states with national security matters a distant second.

· The number who would not be comfortable with Obama as President is higher in every state than the number saying the same about McCain. This is consistent with national polling data showing that McCain voters are more likely than Obama supporters to be primarily voting against the other candidate.

· Obama has the edge among unaffiliated voters in three states, McCain in two. Nationally, unaffiliated voters are fairly evenly divided.

· Pennsylvania has more undecided voters than any other state—seven percent (7%). Most of these are Democrats or unaffiliated voters.

Obama leads McCain by only two points (47-45) in Pennsylvania. McCain’s approval ratings are 88% favorable among Republicans, which is a significant change from the last time I looked. McCain has solid support from 84% of Republicans; Obama from 65% of Democrats (35% of Democrats said they may change their minds). Among all likely voters for both candidates, 74% are solid support, and 26% soft support. Of likely voters, 58% would be comfortable with Obama as President, and 65% with McCain as President. McCain is more trusted than Obama among likely voters (48-41).

Maybe the Democrats shouldn’t take Pennsylvania for granted.

very savvy — and it’s working. Turn the sound down before you watch this clip. Allahpundit calls it roaring. That’s pretty accurate.

The media estimate a 10,000 turnout for the rally in Sterling Heights, Michigan.

Meanwhile, when Obama’s not whining or begging Hillary to take on that mean ol’ lady from Alaska, he’s making an ass of himself trying to get those bigger, clingy Pennsylvania votes.

A woman in the crowd told Obama she had “heard a rumor” that he might be planning some sort of gun ban upon being elected president. Obama trotted out his standard policy stance, that he had a deep respect for the “traditions of gun ownership” but favored measures in big cities to keep guns out of the hands of “gang bangers and drug dealers’’ in big cities “who already have them and are shooting people.”

“If you’ve got a gun in your house, I’m not taking it,’’ Obama said. But the Illinois senator could still see skeptics in the crowd, particularly on the faces of several men at the back of the room.

So he tried again. “Even if I want to take them away, I don’t have the votes in Congress,’’ he said. “This can’t be the reason not to vote for me. Can everyone hear me in the back? I see a couple of sportsmen back there. I’m not going to take away your guns.’’

So let’s do an English translation. First, he claims not to be a gun-grabber. Then, when he sees that he’s not fooling people, he says even if he’s lying through his teeth and really is a gun-grabber, he can’t do it.

Tell me again, please, who decided this man was intelligent, and based on what evidence.

I’m burning DVDs, and Rudy’s speaking. I didn’t see it before, but there’s a shot of a little girl waving one of those McCain “I’m not bitter” Terrible Towels.

I know where she’s from!

Though I’m signing off here in a minute to make dinner.

Working the phones. Well, I got forty calls in, but no more. When I got there, the door was open, but nobody was at the desk. I walked in, said, “Hello?” several times, until this young woman came out of the back.

She was a volunteer (a PSU student), she had been there an hour, and she hadn’t seen the person who was supposed to be at the desk. There was a note taped on it that said, “Back in 15 minutes.” I never did see the person. Maybe he was abducted by space aliens.

The student had to go to class about thirty minutes after I got there, so I was alone. I did get one very entertaining woman on the phone, but I digress.

People kept coming in for bumperstickers, buttons, etc., and since I was the only one there, I had to keep getting up. All of them wanted to talk — particularly about Palin last night — and most commented on how hard the office was to find (it is).

So I left. The door locks when you close it. I’m going back in Tuesday. I hope there’s somebody actually staffing the office.

They county GOP just called me to work for the McCain campaign.

Wow. They are alive.

Not to be cynical, but despite the email messages, the phone calls, and signing several volunteer sheets, he opened with, “I see you volunteered for the Lynn Swann campaign . . .”

But hey. Does it really make a difference that they got my name off a two year-old list?

Make mental note: It is not a good idea to drive through Pittsburgh on a football game day.

I figured out how to get the pics on the computer, so here we go. Click the pic to get the big one.

First, it was hot, and the sun was brutal until about 5 o’clock. Hotter than we’ve grown accustomed to here, certainly, where it’s always at least breezy. But we got there well ahead of time.

It was poorly organized, in several different ways.

The first glitch we ran into was the tickets. There were a number of places around the state to pick up tickets, but none near us, so as instructed, I emailed the Pennsylvania campaign. I did get an almost immediate response, saying that there would be tickets for us there, and asking me how many I needed.

However, there were no tickets waiting for us. So we were shuttled to the “no ticket” line. As it happened, it didn’t make any difference whether you had a ticket or not, so while it was initially annoying, it wasn’t much of an issue.

The Russell Brigade were out in full force. Russell is trying to unseat Murtha, and we heard that he was raising more money than Murtha. They wore T-shirts with two boot soles that said, “Boots on the ground.”

There was a small group of Obama supporters there, or were before the line started moving. I don’t know what happened to them. By the time they started letting us in, there was no sign of them. They did not have giant puppet heads.

The only celebrity I met was Steve Ettien, a retired Marine who unsuccessfully ran against Jim Rigby in the next district.

The rally was at Consol Energy Park in Washington, the home stadium for the Washington Wild Things, a minor league baseball team. I’m not sure what they were thinking, but the layout was bizarre, and more than a little stupid. The stage was just in front of home base, facing the outfield, so all of us who were sitting in the bleachers were looking at everybody’s backs. They should have moved the stage out between the pitcher’s mound and second base, so people could have stood in front of the stage, and the speakers could have been facing everyone.

This was part of the problem with pictures. I had to sit there, waiting for somebody to turn around. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

I got up to get something to drink at the concession stand. While I was outside, I decided to see what was available at the stands, so I missed the intro for the first performer. She’s a local, and she did a pretty good job, even if she did sing that Helen Reddy song I never wanted to hear again (though I suppose it was appropriate).

Next up was John Rich (you have to tell people that Walk the Line is a Johnny Cash song?) He also did Raisin McCain. The youtube video has been viral over the last week.

Then, there were a couple of local elected officials. I didn’t know who they were, because Washington County is 160 miles from here.

Next up, Diana Irey. I was still trying to figure out how to get the damned camera to focus, so all I got were a few out of focus shots of her butt (see above).

They were passing out signs, of course. They also passed out Terrible Towels, with McCain-Palin printed on them. Like I said, it was hot. People were wearing them on their heads.

Hey, look! It’s a tall black guy! Is that Obama?

Fooled ya! It’s Lynn Swann. Good speaker, he passed the Towel on to Tom Ridge (not a very good picture, but hey).

Oh, and for my commenter who whined about “diversity” yesterday, I snapped this.

Everybody came out of their seats for both Swann and Ridge.

Then, while he was speaking, here it comes into the field.

Sarah Palin working the crowd — and boy did they go nuts, too.

She had to stop speaking several times because the crowd was drowning her out with SA-RAH! SA-RAH! She’s a Steelers fan, so I suspect she explained the Terrible Towels to McCain and family.

I did manage to get her turned around.

After the rally, there was no traffic movement for a little over an hour. Some guy walked past my window and told me somebody had had a flat tire and that’s what was holding traffic up. However, as soon as it started, we got out pretty quickly.

Didn’t make great time there, or on the way back. You can’t, really. We took 22, because it’s about 45 miles closer than taking I-99 all the way down to Bedford and taking the Turnpike over. But 22 isn’t finished, so about half of it is two-lane, plus it was night.

Anyway, click on the pic below to see all of the rally pictures.

Almost midnight when we got home — and I didn’t sleep well.

The crappy little Canon Powershot A60 I’ve had for years picked yeserday to die, so I got a new camera, with a 12X zoom. When I figure out how to get the pics off the camera, I’ll post them. No promises on the pics, though. If I’d had time to familiarize myself with all of the little buttons, because God knows, we can’t make a digital camera that works like an SLR, I would have set it on manual. At 12X, the autofocus refocuses every time there’s the slightest movement, and taking pictures was a real pain, especially with the stupid layout of the rally (yeah, I’ll give more details later).

Right now, I need more coffee. More blogging later.

No, I won’t be liveblogging. It’s in a baseball stadium. I will take the camera, though I’m not promising great shots (depends on how far we end up from the stage).

Those new loafers. I just put them on for the first time since I bought them, and I’m still moaning in comfort. These are them (though I paid a great deal less than the $100 list price).

WTC meets Flight 93:

At 7:00 a.m. yesterday morning, the Fire Family Transport Foundation launched from Floyd Bennett Field on Long Island to escort a cross of steel from the destroyed World Trade Center to the Shanksville Volunteer Fire Company. The foundation provides medical transport to firefighters, family members, and wounded warriors.

NEW YORK - The roar of 1,000 motorcycles accompanied a steel beam from the World Trade Center yesterday as it traveled to Pennsylvania, where it will be part of a memorial in the town where an airliner crashed during the Sept. 11 attacks.

Hundreds of current and retired FDNY firefighters left Brooklyn’s Floyd Bennett Field at about 7 a.m. to escort the girder on the 311-mile ride to Shanksville, Pa., where Flight 93 crashed.

They rolled down I-287 through New Jersey and I-78 in Pennsylvania; at every overpass, folks came out to greet them and show our true colors.

Great story. Lots of pictures at the link.

I shouldn’t have gone downtown. Traffic was insane, and it’s going to get much worse.

And I forgot to mention: No Waffle Shop until Christmas break, unless we go no later than 7:30, or go to the Bellefonte branch (that’s an idea — never been). We should have made a trip there last weekend, but its too late now.

Most people don’t live in college towns, so bear with me. And by college town, I mean the same thing that anyone who lives in a college town means, a town small enough that the student population markedly changes life. So even though Sacramento has a university, it isn’t a college town. Neither is Philadelphia, Buffalo, Chicago, Los Angeles, or New York City.

Ithaca is a college town. So is Bloomington (Indiana). So is State College.

There are two major events for college town locals. The weekend students leave for the summer, and the weekend students come back for the fall semester. This weekend, the students come back.

The population here doubles, and traffic is a nightmare — especially the weekend the students come back, when clueless parents are driving the wrong way on one-way streets, running red lights, and driving through stop signs (not to mention that nearly all of the businesses in town will be impossible to patronize this weekend, because they’ll be full of parents and students — thank God we have Sam’s and the second Wal-Mart way away from campus, where parents don’t know about them, but the Wal-Mart just down the road, well, the lines will be halfway through the store all weekend, and I won’t be going anywhere near there, or any other business on North Atherton).

Actually, since State College is a bit smaller than Bloomington, and there are several thousand more students at Penn State, State College is worse. That’s going to be hard to believe for anyone who lives in Bloomington, but trust me here. The only thing that makes State College not quite so bad is the expressway (there is no such critter in Bloomington, and the only way to get from point A to point B is to drive through town).

It’s Friday, and I should have done this earlier this week. But around noon, I’m going to drive downtown, lunch at Five Guys, and check out the Indian grocery (which if I remember correctly, doesn’t open until noon, and with foreigners, that means well after noon). I may even find something for dinner.

You know, before the roads become death traps this weekend.

So I can’t get in touch with the county party, or I should say I can’t get a human being to contact me, but somehow, I got on the phone list for the Monroe County (PA, not IN) GOP. They called me. Twice. The problem is that it’s way over in the Poconos, and Stroudsburg is 160 miles south-east of here. I gently explained that this would be a problem when the caller asked me if I’d be willing to come in to party headquarters in Stroudsburg and man the phones.

I’ve figured out that nobody updates the local county website, or monitors the email addy. Call, and you get voicemail. Leave a message, and it goes into the black hole at the centre (get it?) of the galaxy.

Go figure.

You’ll never believe who’s going to be performing at the Grange Fair next week. Guess. Go ahead.

I am ‘en-e-ry the VIIIth, I am . . .

Herman’s Hermits.

continues, now that I know that yes, people do make and eat sorghum in Pennsylvania. Since I have to go across town to Mass fairly soon (it’s the Feast of the Assumption), I can hunt on the way back.

There seems to be a lack of small groceries here. But there’s that place down by Mt. Tussey. They sell lots of local food items. I may try there, if Weis and Giant prove fruitless. Or sorghumless.

We’ll see.

Must work a trip to Wegman’s in soon. My McCain shirt came today. I figure I can dawdle in the organic, free range section, where the highest concentration of limousine liberals are.

Opening tonight: Nittany Valley Shakespeare Festival, A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Wal-Mart doesn’t carry it. I asked, and was taken to an aisle. The guy pointed to the molasses. Er, no.

On my earlier post, Joubert commented:

I have to buy mine on the Net. I can’t remember how you use it but I use it as porridge and buy it here:

https://www.shop-southafricans.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=153

Sorghum is a grain. Joubert was raised in South Africa, and they eat the grain there. We feed the grain to livestock (and now, use it to make ethanol). Sorghum is also the syrup made from the cane, the same way molasses is made from sugar cane (the juice is pressed out, then slowly boiled down).

Sorghum is not molasses. Sorghum is made from sorghum cane. Molasses is made from sugar cane. Molassess is much darker and much more strongly flavored than sorghum. Not the same. Not even very similar. Sorghum has its own unique flavor, because it’s made from sorghum cane, not sugar cane.

People in Pennsylvania do make and eat sorghum. All I had to do was a little web research. There are even a few Pennsylvania brands, so if I keep looking, I may be able to find it somewhere around here. If I can’t, there are a couple of Pennsylvania food shops that sell it online.

But it is undeniably true that nobody here here, as in State College here, has a clue what sorghum is.

I was at Wegman’s yesterday, and while there, I looked everywhere for sorghum. When I checked out, I went to the service desk, where there were three women working. I asked. The two women closest to me gave me deer in the headlights, and the one furthest away, raised her head and shook it.

“They probably don’t even know what you’re talking about,” she said. She was from Arkansas.

But I refuse to give up. I figure if anybody has sorghum, Wal-Mart is it, so I’m headed down the road to Wal-Mart in search of sorghum.

I didn’t hear a word about this. Not an email alert, nothing.

I may be used to it by now, but I still think the way communities work in Pennsylvania is weird.

We live in Patton Township.
We live in the State College school district.
We have a Port Matilda address.

Port Matilda, by the way, is clear on the other side of the mountain, about ten miles from here. Well today, as in very soon, I have to drive to the post office to pick up a package — that’s over Skytop to the Port Matilda post office. then turn around and drive back over the mountain to downtown State College to teach class. Downtown State College is five miles in the other direction. Ten miles. Five miles. So why, again, do we have a Port Matilda address?

And in every other state I know of, “incorporated” means you have your own post office. So why isn’t there a Patton Township post office, particularly when campus has its own post office (University Park), even though University Park is not an incorporated community — indeed, isn’t anything but a post office?

We went to the Geisinger (medical clinic) open house yesterday, and there were a lot of people there. So what was going on? People were walking around looking at the building and examination rooms. Seriously. There was punch and pretzels, but the sandwich shop wasn’t open. And that was it. The fact that so many people found it fascinating is a testament to how nice and ordinary and boring our neck of the woods is.

Oh. And no more being held up for non-existent construction. It took them almost three years to build it, but it’s finally open. Thank God.

That reminds me (but I’m not sure why). Gliding is popular here, and you can rent gliders — in the Bald Eagle Valley. I must be missing something, because for the life of me, I can’t figure out why you would rent a glider in the valley, instead of on top of the mountain. How does that work? Do you rent the glider, then have to take it yourself to the top of the mountain? I wonder about that every time I pass that place.

in under a year, that is. Hire the Amish.

What is it about living in cities that turns people into drooling idiots? Courtesy of Sebastian, here is the latest thing Philadelphia police are doing instead of, you know, arresting criminals.

When you’re in law enforcement, there are days when you really feel like you’re making a difference.

And then there are days like today.

An officer brings up a job today from the high school. Apparently, kids still get locked up during Summer School - maybe he had to repeat “Thuggery 101.” Anyway, I asked the officer what he had, and he said he arrested a student for carrying a weapon on school property.

I said, “Okay, what did the kid have?”

The officer replied, “Two pairs of scissors.”

At this rate, I’m going to have to create a category just for Philadelphia idiots. That would exclude Wyatt, of course.

Arrested for DUI — riding his lawnmower on the road.

Pics below the fold.

Went to the Peoples’ Choice at Boalsburg yesterday (pics to follow). Scott’s was there, but I only got one sandwich, instead of my customary two, since I wanted pirogies and fries. And a milkshake.

I was expecting a couple of pirogies. I got four, floating in melted butter and onions. The fries were top-notch, too, but I came home swearing I’d never eat again.

Went to the farmers’ market, and picked up sour cherries and Hungarian wax peppers. Have to go back to Meyer today because we forgot half of the empty milk bottles.

The Peoples’ Choice Festival is this weekend too, in Boalsburg. We’ll be going today. Scott’s will be there, with their roasted pork sandwiches. Here are some pics (click the pic to hugefy, but you knew that), below the fold.

Scott’s is at the Boalsburg Arts Festival this weekend, so I got a cheesesteak (not bad), real fries, apfel strudel at Helmut’s (brought home), and of course, stopped at the creamery and got an ice cream cone. Pics later.

Nittany Meats had bacon (of course). I usually don’t buy ground meat (I grind my own), but there was this bin labeled, “Bacon Burger.” I asked. Yes, it was hamburger with bacon ground up in it, and you know, we had to have some of that. And I picked up some loose country sausage while we were there.

Doctor appointment at 3.

First, to Nittany Meats for bacon (and maybe other things). Back here to toss the food in the refrigerator, then into town to the Arts Festival (and food!)

The festival here is about the same size (and same kinds of things) as the 4th Street Festival in Bloomington. However, this one is spread out over a larger area, and there are booths only on one side of the street, which I find to be a great idea. It makes moving around much easier.

Oh. And they have more (and better) food.

From my state senator:

(HARRISBURG) - The State House today unanimously approved legislation sponsored by Sen. Jake Corman (R-Benner Twp.) designating a portion of State Route 26 in Centre County as the Marine Sergeant David “DJ” Emery Highway.

Senator Jake Corman introduced Senate Bill 999 as a fitting tribute to a true American hero who was wounded February 7, 2007 during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

“We have the honor of naming a state highway after Marine Sergeant David “DJ” Emery, who served our Commonwealth, the United States of America and the United States Marine Corps with honor so that men, women and children abroad can live in a free society and enjoy the liberties of a democracy, free of tyranny and oppression,” Corman said.

David “DJ” Emery, Jr., was born August 23, 1985. He graduated from Bellefonte Area High School in 2003 and studied masonry at the Centre County Vocational-Technical School. He was always an active outdoorsman and has a love of motorcycles.

Emery enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in June 2003 and, following completion of basic training was deployed to Iraq in 2004 and then again in 2006.

Private First Class Emery served with distinction in the 4th Battalion, 2nd Marines, 2/4 Gulf Company until February 7, 2007, when he was seriously wounded in an attack by a suicide bomber. Emery was promoted to Sergeant on May 9, 2007.

Corman garnered the support of Spring and Marion Township officials, along with PennDOT officials, before introducing Senate Bill 999.

Corman’s Senate Bill 999 originally passed in the Senate on October 1, 2007. Because SB 999 was amended in the House, it must return to the Senate for the concurrence vote.

First, I reported on June 2 that our HOA had actually voted for liberty. Let me explain. Apparently, the HOA covenant was written up by the contractor who built the homes here. Okay, now I find this odd. Why would a contractor write a covenant, and was it with the input of at least some of the people who originally bought homes here? From conversations with an ex-board member and other communication, people have apparently challenged the covenant repeatedly because there are conflicting terms and it can be read either way.

Anyway, the questions were basically this: With regard to fences, sheds, pools, satellite dishes, and landscaping, should HOA members be required to get the okay of the HOA board, or should they be able to build without getting permission (provided construction is within township guidelines)? (And why would a covenant restrict fencing, when fencing adds to the property value?) Here were the results:

The results were consistent across all issues, with a clear relative majority voting to allow individual property owners to have the power to make their own decisions regarding fences, sheds, pools, and landscaping, providing their plans fall within X Township guidelines. No approval will be required by the HOA or its members.

Great, huh? Well, about a week later, we got this rather odd message (GHA refers to the HOA board):

We have received many nice comments and compliments about the recent neighborhood vote, but also a few concerns regarding the ballot and outcome. While we knew not everyone would be happy no matter what the outcome, we tried very hard to have the X HOA feel that the voting process was equitable. Based on some feedback we have received, it does not appear that we met that goal.

On the issues of landscaping and satellite dishes, the ballot results were clear, so a re-vote will not be needed. But the items concerning sheds, fencing, and pools raised questions. While there was a clear relative majority (i.e., one response that got significantly more votes than the others), the fact that the response options were not binary (like a clear yes/no vote) and two of the options were similar in nature (e.g., that some body should have approval power) made some members question the results.

So… let’s do this again! While it will be improbable that we’ll make everyone 100% happy, we’d like to re-vote, with