Being Green With Grocery Bags

Courtesy Cathy Martin
Being Green
Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the older  woman, that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags  weren’t good for the environment.
The woman apologized and explained, “We didn’t have this green thing  back in my earlier days.”
The young clerk responded, “That’s our problem today. Your generation  did not care enough to save our environment for future generations.”
She was right — our generation didn’t have the green thing in its day.
Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to  the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and  sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and  over. So they really were recycled.
But we didn’t have the green thing back in our day.
Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags, that we  reused for numerous things, most memorable besides household garbage  bags, was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our  schoolbooks. This was to ensure that public property, (the books  provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our  scribblings. Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown  paper bags.
But too bad we didn’t do the green thing back then.
We walked up stairs, because we didn’t have an escalator in every  store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn’t  climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two  blocks.
But she was right. We didn’t have the green thing in our day.
Back then, we washed the baby’s diapers because we didn’t have the  throwaway kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling  machine burning up 220 volts — wind and solar power really did dry  our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from  their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.
But that young lady is right; we didn’t have the green thing back in our day.
Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house — not a TV in every  room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief  (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana . In  the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn’t have  electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile  item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion  it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn’t fire up  an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower  that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn’t need to  go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.
But she’s right; we didn’t have the green thing back then.
We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup  or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled  writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the  razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just  because the blade got dull.
But we didn’t have the green thing back then.
Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their  bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour  taxi service.. We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire  bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn’t need a  computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000  miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint.
But isn’t it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old  folks were just because we didn’t have the green thing back then?
Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a  lesson in conservation from a smartass young person…
We don’t like being old in the first place, so it doesn’t take much to tick us off.
Being Green With Grocery Bags
Being Green With Grocery Bags

Romney Romp In Nov?

Historian Larry Schweikart just posted on Facebook:

Had dinner last night with Stephen Moore, editorial writer for the WSJ. He said: 1) Romney will win by 5-6%; 2) the shale boom in ND, with right president, will make the U.S. energy independent by 2020; 3) when Romney is elected over $1 TRILLION in private capital will come out of hiding.

Don’t get cocky but don’t buy the garbage the dino media is selling either. I’m suspecting a Romney romp as well.
This suspicion gets stronger each time I fill the tank or hit the supermarket.

Jewelry, Jug Of Coins Stolen In Marple Burglary; Charges Upheld

By Pattie Price

Ryan Haley, 20, of Marple, waived a hearing Thursday before Magisterial District Judge Dave Lang on the charge of burglary stemming from incidents between Aug. 3 and Aug. 6, at two homes in the 2500 block of Highland Avenue.

According to the affidavit, Marple Detectives Barry Williams and Larry Gerrity investigated a report from two homeowners. The first reported they were at work and when they returned home discovered a large five-gallon-water jug filled with coins missing from their bedroom. They also discovered an engagement ring and two wedding bands missing. The jewelry and coins were valued at $3,500.

The second resident discovered their sliding door was damaged and a large Corona bucket containing coins was missing from their bedroom closet. Additionally, six items of jewelry were discovered missing. The missing items were valued at $1,800.

Police spoke to the manager of TD Bank and were able to determine that Hanley took the coins to the bank and cashed them in.

When police confronted Hanley, he admitted stealing the items from the first home and finally admitted that he broke into the second home and stole the items. He said he sold the jewelry to Best Jewelers in Manoa and Inside Jewelers in Marple. Police were able to recover all but three pieces of jewelry.

Hanley is scheduled for a Sept. 20 arraignment in Common Pleas Court.

* * *

Dara Paul, 30, of Philadelphia waived a hearing on the charges of DUI and driving at an unsafe speed. The charges stem from an accident 5:31p.m., May 20, in the 1100 block of Cedar Grove Road.

According to the affidavit, Marple Sgt. Mike Johnson responded to a report of an overturned vehicle on Cedar Grove Road. He located Ms. Paul who was out of her vehicle and sustained several lacerations from the broken glass. She said she swerved to avoid a small animal that ran in front of her car.

Police determined that Ms. Paul failed to negotiate a turn in the road and drove up an embankment which caused her car to flip.

Ms. Paul had an odor of alcohol and when she stood up, she lost her balance. She was transported to Bryn Mawr Hospital by Marple Ambulance where she submitted to a blood test. Her blood alcohol level was .17 percent.

Ms. Paul is scheduled for a Sept. 20 arraignment in Common Pleas Court.

* * * 

Charges of retail theft were withdrawn against Mary Friel, 51, of Newtown Square for an incident 4 p.m., June 22, at the Giant, 2910 Springfield Road. In exchange for withdrawing the charges, Ms. Friel plead guilty to disorderly conduct and was fined.

According to the affidavit, Marple Office John Murrin responded to the store for a report of a shoplifter in custody. Store security saw Ms. Friel tear the UPC codes from several items and conceal them in a white bag. She was stopped as she attempted to leave the store with the merchandise valued at $73.89.

A criminal history check revealed this was her second arrest for retail theft.

* * * 

Drug charges were withdrawn against Thomas Wiler, 27, of Marple for an incident 3:28p.m., Feb.1, at his Morton Road residence. In exchange, Wiler pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and was fined.

According to the affidavit, Marple Detective Barry Williams responded to Wiler’s home for a report of a Heroin overdose. He located Wiler in his bedroom and he admitted he injected Heroin earlier that day. Heroin baggies, a glass pipe and a used syringe were confiscated from Wiler’s bedroom.

Williams said Wiler had previous drug arrests and is a known Heroin user.

* * *

Charges of theft and receiving stolen property were withdrawn against Michael Ersek, 27, of Wallingford for an incident 10:30 a.m., April 11, at Delaware County Community College. In exchange, Ersek pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and was fined.

According to the affidavit, Marple Detective Barry Williams investigated a report for a student who said his iPad2 was stolen during a HVAC class. The student and teacher who were standing outside the classroom, saw Ersek go into th e classroom and then leave quickly. The student later discovered his iPad2, valued at $600, missing.

The teacher said Ersek did not show up for the next three classes – including the final exam.

Williams learned from Ersek’s father that he hadn’t been home for over a week and was shocked that his son had not been attending his classes. The father was also concerned because Ersek had an opiate problem in the past.

* * * 

Charges of driving under the influence of alcohol were withdrawn against Jared Wright, 30, of Newtown Square. The charges stemmed from a domestic altercation 11:41 p.m., April 29, in the 200 block of Sproul Road.

* * *

Charges of recklessly endangering another person, careless driving, reckless driving, fleeing from police, a left turn violation, driving at an unsafe speed, and driving while his license was suspended – DUI related were withdrawn against Michael Cavone, 43, of Marple. The charges stemmed from an incident 9:33a.m., March 17, at Sproul and Old Marple roads.

* * *

Charges of simple assault and harassment were dismissed against Albert Agostini, 56, of Marple for an incident 12:41p.m., March 19, at his 1st Avenue residence.

School Bus Law Reminder

Since kids will soon be heading back to school, it is important for drivers to be responsible in sharing the road with school buses, said state Rep. Jim Cox (R-129) 

When meeting or overtaking a stopped school bus with red signal lights flashing and a “stop” arm extended, a driver MUST STOP. When approaching an intersection where a school bus is stopped with red signal lights and stop arm extended, a driver again MUST STOP. Drivers must wait until the red lights have stopped flashing and the stop arm has been withdrawn before proceeding. 

Be sure to stop at least 10 feet from the school bus, and watch the children exiting the bus. A driver should not proceed until all children have reached a place of safety. Drivers do not have to stop on a highway with clearly defined dividing sections or physical barriers providing separate roadways when the school bus is on the opposite side of the road. 

If a driver violates the law, he or she will receive all of the following penalties: a 60-day driver’s license suspension, five points on a driving record and a $250 fine. 

Not So Great Moments In Science

Neuroscientist John Lilly tried to get dolphins to speak English by giving them LSD. Yes, he experimented with the drug himself.

Hat tip Outside magazine.

Tea Party PAC Picks Sher Valenzuela

Sher Valenzuela has been endorsed in her Delaware lieutenant gubernatorial run by the Independence Hall Tea Party Political Action Committee, which is the only federally registered Tea Party PAC in the Delaware Valley. 

It is the first time the PAC has endorsed a lieutenant governor candidate.
“With rare exception, the PAC normally endorses in federal contests.  We’ve decided to endorse in this particular race due to the overwhelming qualifications, including leadership, that Sher Valenzuela brings to the table,” said PAC President, Don Adams.
Ms. Valenzuela and her husband Eli operate First State Manufacturing, a company in Milford with nearly 70 employees.

 The company produces an array of products, ranging from protective padding for Major League Baseball umpires, to engine covers for U.S. armed forces aircraft, and combat vests for the Israeli Army.

Bill Ayers Rape Story Via Donna Ron

Bill Ayers Rape Story — The touching concern Democrats and their enablers are now expressing regarding rape has inspired us to join in their crusade to protect womanhood and excerpt this 2006 article from FrontPage Magazine about Barack Obama’s mentor Bill Ayers:

By Donna Ron

I read occasionally of former Weatherman Bill Ayers and his wife Bernardine Dohrn, both now not only accepted, despite their bombing campaign against America in the 1960s and 70s, but successful ,establishment educators whose opinions on social issues are taken seriously.  Every time I see Ayers’ name I shudder with fear and rage and realize that I will never be able to erase the mark he left on my life one evening 40 years ago.

It was at the Undergraduate Library at the University of Michigan on a Friday night in November 1965.  I was a sophomore and was living in a sorority house — Alpha Epsilon Phi. I was walking down the stairs to leave the library.  Billy Ayers was standing on the first floor and started talking to me.

I thought he was cute.  There seemed to be jovial kind of instant connection between us.  As I am writing this now I think he must have noticed me before ,  boys were attracted to me in those days ,  and planned to try to pick me up. As we struck up a conversation, Ayers told me very quickly about his leftist activism as if he knew this would intrigue me. In fact, I had made attempts to join SDS and the anti Vietnam War Movement on campus during my freshman year but had been put off by what hustlers the young male “activists” were. They talked in lofty ideological abstractions, but they also used their political sophistication as a lure for young women who wanted to be on the right side of the great social issues of the day. I picked up on that cynicism early and so spent much of my freshman year at Michigan trying to figure out how to act. I was politically idealistic back then and believed in Tikkun Olam — that we had to do something to make the world better. 

 

My freshman year at Michigan I attended the Teach-Ins and the campus demonstrations against the Vietnam War and studied hard for my Chemistry exams once a month. At the same time, I decided to pledge a sorority, partially just to prove I could and partially because young women’s options for campus living arrangements were still quite limited in those years.

 

Despite the caution I’d learned about young ideologues on the make, I was charmed by Bill Ayers and by his savvy talk of politics and the children’s school he was involved with. He asked me to go to a party with him and I did. I have a vague memory of the house where the party was and the people there. I think he got quite drunk and I suppose I drank too. I remember walking home with him. He was very open about himself and told me he was one of 5 children and that he was from Chicago and that his father was rich. 

 

I felt comfortable with Bill.  Throughout my life I had always had a friendly buddy-kind of connection with certain boys and felt that I was developing such a connection with him.

 

I remember going back to his attic apartment — he describes it in his book Fugitive Days.  He had a roommate — a black man who was 23 and married with children. There was a couch, a table, a stereo and a sink in the room. There were two beds – Ayers’ and his roommate’s on each side of the attic wall.  I slept with him there.

 

I came there a few times afterward to talk and to listen to his LPs. I especially loved Glen Yarbough’s album Come Share My Life. I met Bill’s roommate who also worked at the children’s school. I also met Bill’s younger brother Rick. Bill was a year older than I and his brother was a year younger. He spent a lot of time at Bill’s apartment.

 

Bill Ayers’ apartment was around the corner and a half a block away from the sorority house. The more time I spent there, the more out of place I felt with my sisters.  Sometimes I would stop by just to keep from having to go back to a place I had begun to think of as boring. I guess it was one of those evenings — maybe on the way back from the library, maybe just to get out of the sorority house, I don’t remember exactly. What I do recall is that when I was getting ready to leave Ayers told me I couldn’t go until I slept with his roommate and his brother.

 

(excerpt from FrontPageMag.Com)

 

Bill Ayers Rape Story

Bill Ayers Rape Story

Web Tax For Pa. Businesses Start Sept. 1

Online retailers with a physical presence in the state will have to a 6 percent sales tax on items bought by Pennsylvanians.

Unless the business is in Allegheny County, in which case it will have to charge a 7 percent tax with the extra percent going to the county, or in Philadelphia, in which case it will have to charge an 8 percent tax with the extra 2 percent going to the city.
So, is the message now if you live in Pennsylvania and shop online,  don’t do it with a business based here?

Delco Council Commends Honor Flight Philly

Honor Flight’s year-old Philadelphia hub was commended, today, Aug. 22, by Delaware County Council for its work in honoring veterans. Honor Flight gives veterans trips to Washington D.C. for a day in which they tour their memorials and are treated with special honor. There is no cost to them. As of now, the trips are restricted to World War II and terminally ill veterans although the group soon expects to be including veterans from the Korean War. Delco Council Commends Honor Flight Philly
Delco Council Commends Honor Flight PhillyPresenting the certificate is Councilman Mario Civera Jr., who is the council’s liaison to the county’s Department of Veterans Affairs and an Air Force veteran. Flanking him are World War II veterans Carmen Laino of Springfield and Ed Pizzi of Newtown Square who will be participants in Honor Flight Philadelphia’s Sept. 9 trip. With them in the front row are (from left) Honor Flight members Rick Megaro of Springfield, Marie Martinelli of Havertown, group president and founder Andrew Schiavello of Springfield, Grace Amen of Philadelphia and Bill Lawrence of Springfield. In back are county council members John P. McBlain, Dave White, Tom McGarrigle and Colleen Morrone.
Delco Council Commends Honor Flight Philly

It Could Have Been Worse With Akin

There is a bright side to the ill-considered comments about rape and pregnancy said by Todd Akin, the Republican senate nominee for Missouri this cycle that just about everybody in the GOP now wants out.

He could be the presidential nominee and have said “You better put some ice on that.”
Of course, in that case he would probably be getting Democratic support.