~ And Dead Horses! ~ THANKS!       Well, it looks like I owe Smart an apology – not!  Three front page articles!  I guess the Sunday News was out to prove he could blog and report at the same time!     He rehashes the whole McCaskey prom nonsense and that reminds me that I owe David Porter an apology.  You see I talked by phone with him early last week and he told me exactly what he told Smart – I just never had the time to run it.      In addition, Porter told me that he doesn’t think he’s ever made a dime on the photos and I believe him.  He also said that if you look at his 2006 prom pictures there is also a fair bit of cleavage.  And if you don’t think there was cleavage showing at the Manheim Township prom then you are nuts.      But as the former LOL Boss posted on the Talkback forum this morning, this is all just beating a dead horse.  Enough is enough.  Once again, thanks to Porter for his interest in the kids and the wonderful pictures.     Now, I have a lot to say about the coroner and the DA and many other things but they will have to wait until after the holiday.  I would also like to thank the person who contacted me yesterday.  Sexual abuse is rampant and we need to talk about it to stop it.  I think you are very brave.     Have a nice holiday and please check back on Tuesday.   Well, well, well.  Who knew?  LIP News will publish tomorrow…   The piece below has been edited.  BIRDS OF A FEATHER… Gil,     Stop brown nosing. The coverage by your company is so blantly one sided.     It is so disturbing that not one reporter has the spine to report the other side of the story. But what is really disturbing was Peg Steinman’s hair at the ground breaking party. What a rats nest! She was scaring small children. Does she own a mirror?     Is everyone at the paper afraid to tell her she has a birds nest on her head? Posted by a new Talkbacker named “Shut up and get to work,” under Gil Smart’s blog entry “On the manipulation of the media” yesterday (click here -  Smart should pay me for advertising!)     What a hoot.  What I find more disturbing about Peg than her hair, is her matching green shoes and pocket book!  (See Ron Harper’s 5thestate.)  How often does one wear dyed green shoes and dyed to match purse?  This is an astounding waste of the newspaper buying public’s money!     And of course, all of us figured this poster to be the “Crow” – Steve Markle.  Is it?  Hmmm.  Maybe and maybe not.     But I do think Gil should shut up and get to work!  How much money does he make the Lancaster Newspapers by “blogging?”  Doesn’t he have work to do for the Sunday News?  And your papers have manipulated the news about the convention center/hotel to the extent that you have lost all journalism integrity and ethics, Gil, and everyone knows it.  And, no, it’s not like the reporting from Iraq, you idiot! THAT BAD!     One quick mention about the two logos below on this site.  Obviously, some genius hired by the Marriott chain “designed” the hotel logo and Godfrey Advertising “designed” the really, really, really ugly convention center logo.  I appreciate the email from Godfrey that is reproduced below – but as one Talkbacker posted, among many:     I could've done better with a few magic markers and a ruler.     Yes, it’s that bad. GOD?     And shortly after I published my piece about Smart on Thursday ("A DIRECT LINE TO GOD?"), the Great Gil posted this on his blog (the same link as above):     So, is there a definitive source for links to blogs written in and/or about Lancaster?     I have a couple bookmarked. Ron Harper’s 5thestate.com, for example, though I’d say - and Harper will probably argue this - that his site isn’t a blog per se, it’s more a news site.  I like LancoYokels, it’s pretty well-written and well-reasoned, as is Artie See’s Looking at Lancaster.  NewsLanc is also more of a news site, fairly well done, I think - and I like the surbversive nature of how NewsLanc hands out paper versions outside of Market periodically, and takes out full-page ads in the Merchandiser.     What a hoot!  Who's missing?  As noted below, I called Gil and he “admitted” he has mine bookmarked as well, and he did add me to the list of Lancaster blogs on the right of his blog.  He seemed a little nervous.  Maybe it’s the whole “Alsdad” thing?  There will be more on that later…        And let’s get www.columbiapaonline.com on that list, Smart, and www.SolancoNews.com.  NEW AND IMPROVED!     I apologize for yesterday’s lack of a post – things happen.  LIP News will be on vacation until next Tuesday when we will return to daily publishing on a new schedule!  There will be more on the Lancaster murders, racism, journalism awards, Ernie Schreiber, Smart and forums and…well, lots, lots more. Have a great Memorial Day!  Summer is here!    Yahoo!   If you click on Becky's site she really likes to quote us here in TB.   Doesn't she have a life?? Posted on the Talkback forum yesterday. No!  Sniff.  Sniff.  I don’t.  Please check back early this evening…  Does anyone have a tissue?   SMART LIKES ME! Thursday, May 24, 2007, 3:33 PM         So I’d like to blogroll local blogs, and if you’ve got one, drop me a note. I don’t know that the list can be anything definitive, but the more the merrier.  Gil Smart on his Smart Remarks blog, posted this afternoon (click here).     I just got off the phone with Gil!  What a day I’ve had!  I informed Gil that I have a blog (I actually prefer the term “news website”, but what the hay?) - and he said he would add me!  Oh, joyous day!  I’ve never been so happy!  I can’t wait!  Please check back tomorrow…      Thanks, Gil!  I’ve never said a bad word about you.  Oh, joyous day!      Here’s Godfrey’s ugly CC logo. (Thank you to Ron Harper, Jr. and please go to his site and see his photos and write-up of this skanky affair!  Click here.)   So who designed the hotel logo?   *** BREAKING NEWS ***     I just received this email with the subject title, “This is the logo developed by Godfrey”:   FYI: <<LCCC_logo_4c_A8.jpg>> Chuck Manners Executive Vice President/Partner Godfrey 40 N. Christian St. Lancaster, Pa.   17602 717-393-3831, ext. 126       I can not reproduce the attached logo here, but folks, this one is really, really, really ugly.  And how do both logos have an arc if they were done by two different firms?     I called Chuck Manners at 12:00 noon today and he said of the hotel logo shown below on this site, "It’s absolutely not our design."     Okay.  Who designed it?  Stay tuned… A DIRECT LINE TO GOD?       Over the weekend I was trolling “the Internets” to see what was being said about the ...yada yada yada...     ...Now, OK, I spend a considerable amount of time on the Internets, post to a couple boards (though not LOL) and, you know, ugliness happens. People get a little wrapped up in the issue at hand, say things they’d never say in person, you know how it goes. Nothing to get all worked up about, because it’s not like the LOL board is any worse than any other board.     Or is it? Portions of Gil Smart’s blog - “Amazing, and not in a good way,” - article on the McCaskey Prom quoted on the Talkback forum.      After quoting the above the poster said this:      So how does this work? Gil doesn't post on LOL but many of his 'rants' are directed at 'us' posters, in a special section marked blogs to generate activity and responses and there is a user 'gsmart' with 0 posts since May 8th.     Maybe we can e-mail and pm him directly, haven't tried it, but it'd be like a direct line to god.     Anyway, as I tried to post in the blog section, which I didn't have permission, I conjectured with fair certainty that 'blogs' don't count as posts sort of like the old 'playground' forum.     Trolling you say Gil? I think that your blog may fit that bill.     How is Gil's blog any different than say Becky reporting about what goes on within the confines of LOL?  No wonder Markel has a fixation with you Mr. Smart, you’re so darn cute. Would you look at that mug.     Thank you BB - but you forgot advertising revenue!  And there is no difference, excerpt I’m better – and nicer – and smarter - and have a prettier mug!  But you are right - this is just weird.  Smart apparently can only post to his own blog and not on the actual Talkback forum.  How stupid.  Don't they trust him?      And Smart, you did post on the LOL forum, as “Alsdad,” so don’t even try it.      There will be much more tomorrow on forums, Smart (Alsdad), the CC logo, the skanky CC party and more and please see the boxes below which are new today.  Missy Martino from Godfrey Advertising says their firm didn’t do the hotel logo – only the convention center logo.  Hmmm… She is double checking and said she would call me back…. *** BREAKING NEWS *** NUDE!     Oh, this is rich!  Oh, this is so rich!  While everyone talks about one McCaskey prom dress, nude pictures are on a Lancaster Online blog!  Click here.  Oh, this is rich!     Are you kidding me?  From www.5thestate.com.  Don't pay Godfrey Advertising for this crap!   HEAD TO HEAD WITH SMART? Please check back later today…   *** BREAKING NEWS *** Wednesday, May 23, 2007, 5:03 PM         Ron Harper, Jr. just reported by phone that the protestors at the Fulton Theater for the party for the publicly funded hotel and convention center are closing up shop.  “We saw Peggy [Steinman] and Dale [High] and everybody,” he said.  Harper reportedly had a large, sheet cake with black icing with dollar signs inscribed on it.  Hopefully, he will post  pictures of the party goers later today or tomorrow and I will link to his site.     Talkbackers, for God’s sake, the four men who were just arrested for the murder of Ray Diener, were arrested from a Crime Stopper “tip.”  Let’s look at the evidence against them before we take them out and shoot them!!  One is 16 years old, for heaven's sake.     Smart, you can’t out-blog me!  Rumors are swirling in the Haines’ murders (click here), also about a possible sixteen year old perpetrator.  Nothing so far has been confirmed by police.      Please check back tomorrow.  ~ It’s Your $$$! ~ PROTEST!       Yes, I had a column-and-a-half for you today.  Smart has sex on his prom night (did we need to know that?) and I spoke to David Porter and the York Daily Record and more…      But all of that has to wait until tomorrow because of today’s skanky – oops! – I mean - swanky - soiree being paid for by us.     Please see the “Breaking News” box immediately below and meet Ron Harper, Jr. at the Fulton Theater today between 3:30 p.m. and 3:45 p.m.  This site will have a picture and full coverage later today!     What will the convention center logo be?  A dead white elephant is my best guess! *** BREAKING NEWS *** Wednesday, May 23, 2007 [This email in from Ron Harper, Jr.   Call him at 717-471-6520 for more information and PROTEST!]   Convention Center Celebration? Peasants Protest Publicly Paid Party       Various citizens and citizens’ groups will gather in front of the Fulton Theater on Wednesday May 23 at 3:40 p.m. to greet sponsors of the publicly funded downtown hotel and convention center project as the sponsors arrive for a reception held in their own honor.     "This party – taking place for no apparent reason – is a slap in the face to the taxpayers, who are footing the bill for the majority of the expense," said Ron Harper, Jr., editor of 5thestate.com organizer of the demonstration.     "It seems these people who are spending the public’s money on this project, including this party, are treating us like peasants; like we should just ‘eat cake’ and be satisfied with that." Harper said, "Well, maybe if we ‘eat cake’ then we can forget about the $200 million taxpayer-funded project they are shoving down our throats."     Taxpayer revenue fully funds both the Lancaster County Convention Center Authority (LCCCA) and the Pennsylvania Dutch Convention & Visitors’ Bureau (PDCVB), organizations that will pay for two-thirds of the cost of the swanky soiree.   Lancaster Newspapers, and High Associates -- each 50 percent stakeholders in the city-funded hotel -- will split the remaining one-third of the cost of the party. SAY WHAT? Smart Sex?  Yikes!  Who?  Why? Oh, my gosh!  Please check back later today…   ~ And Christians ~ WE NEED ANSWERS!       I also have to ask, considering the frequency with which racism rears its head on various threads: Would the same comments have been made about girls at county high schools other than McCaskey? Helen Colwell Adams on her blog this morning ‘Why are Christians so mean?’ (click here).    Good for Helen.  Finally, she says something sensible.  Lancaster Online closed and deleted two threads dealing with the McCaskey prom pictures by David Porter (see the boxes below).      The remaining open threads are under Adam’s blog and under Gil Smart’s blog where he also came out yesterday blasting some of the comments being made on the forum in his post, “Amazing. And not in a good way,” (click here).      I am in agreement with Adams and Smart?  Yikes!  But yes, I most certainly am.     Most of the posters said the girls looked like streetwalkers, they didn't call the girls streetwalkers. THERE IS A DIFFERENCE. Posted by a very Christian lady under Adams’ piece this morning.     There is no difference and as I posted a long time ago – you give all Mennonites a bad name.  HEALING      I think this board is a great idea, not only to help others in the healing process but also to throw around theories that the police never thought about. I am sure they are monitoring this board as well as many other places. It may look as if we are playing *Clue* to you but I think it makes people feel better to discuss this sad tragedy and it brings the community together. Posted today on the Talkback forum regarding the Haines’ murders.     Yes, that’s what forums are for and they serve an excellent function.  While the discussion of the McCaskey prom goes on – all eyes are now pointed at Manheim Township.     I had numerous calls and emails over the weekend and everyone pointed to either an acquaintance/”friend” of Kevin or Maggie as the perpetrator.  It would seem that is playing out with the emphasis on Kevin.     WGAL has an interesting interview with Sgt. Thomas Rudzinski of the Manheim Township police who tells us his daughter attends the high school (click here and then click on their link to the “raw video.”)     Sgt. Rudzinski seems like a very nice man but I think the video also indicates a complete lack of any solid leads in this murder.  I’m curious as to why students are being interviewed at the school and not in their homes.  Couldn’t their home environment tell investigators a great deal more about them?  And how deeply disturbing this must all be for the students in that high school.      My daughter is a student at the high school and I have to chuckle when she comes home because she comes home with some really far-out theories.  And they’re not all true.  Certainly somewhere in there is some truth but we don’t know what the truth is at this point. Sgt. Rudzinski on the WGAL video.     Ron Harper, Jr. has just posted a layout of the Haines house from the Lancaster Assessment Office on the Talkback forum.  We have been told so little.  The police must have theories on the order of the killings and how the killer entered and left the house.  And how and where did the killer go?   There are no reports of a car in the area – either arriving or leaving and apparently police dogs picked up a “trail.”  Did the killer park a car several blocks away?  Did he walk to where ever he was going?  He must have had a great deal of blood on his body and clothes.     It just doesn’t add up.  Or maybe it does – and that’s why the police are currently centered on the high school.     We want to put a face on this crime. Sgt. Rudsinski on WGAL.     We must put a face on this crime.  And everyone is doing their utmost to try and help the police put a face on this crime.  We need answers.  We are human.  We need answers.    There will be more on the Quakers later this week. Quaker school faces bleak future Headline to an article in the Intell, May 19, 2007 (click here  for the full text).       GOOD!  PUT THIS INCEST/SEXUAL ABUSE CULT, HIDING AS A “PEACE RELIGION,” OUT OF BUSINESS - NOW!  SHUT THESE FRAUDS DOWN! Please check back later today…   ~ And Racism ~ CLASS!       Where the white women at? Yeah, very classy, but what do you expect? Dad is not around and mom works a job where she makes $7/hour. Sad to say, but we should maybe just be glad that these girls will actually graduate. Posted under David Porter’s McCaskey Prom pictures (click here).     This is racism, plain and simple.  It’s disgusting.  The pictures are beautiful and so are the young people in them.  Yes, one or two of the girls have dresses on that could be described as "tacky."  Tough.  That was their choice and their style.      If you saw pictures of Hempfield’s or Solanco’s prom would you ask, “Where the black women at?”  You don’t think anyone looked “tacky” at Hempfield’s or Manheim Township’s or any other school proms?   Why?  Because they are predominately white?  Right!  Think again.     I can assure you these girls are not "hookers"... What a way to think! Judging teenagers who are having fun by dressing up for their prom is just plain silly! It may not be your taste (OR mine)--but let's not label them so negatively. As I said in earlier post--many of these girls will go on to become nurses, teachers, etc. And they won't be wearing their prom "get-ups" for job interviews. Get real! Give them a chance! We're all different and we come from very varied backgrounds. If everyone was judged and then dismissed by their apparel...what a sad world it would be. Posted under the same Talkback thread.     Thank you for some reason.  The whole discussion is simply amazing and shows how deep racism runs. AW CARP!     Which brings me to forums and the liars and frauds who lurk on them.  It was this month last year that I finally chased the “men’s rights” sicko off the forum and I will have a look at that later this week.      But what really makes me mad are the people who draw other people in and those people think they have an “actual” friend – when in fact – everything the person has posted about themselves is a lie.  They are nothing but trolls with an ulterior motive.  There will also be more on this coming…     Great job, David! You show a real interest in the kids! They look terrific! Posted on the Talkback forum.     Yes, thank you David Porter.  You make these kids feel important and special and they are.  Great pictures!    SAY WHAT?     Wow….I knew I was of touch, but didn’t realize how much until I looked at some of those dresses. How sad that these girls don’t realize that people won't get past their half exposed breasts and midrift pudge to actually see inner beauty or brains. Posted on the Talkback forum.     Are we looking at the same pictures?  Click here for beautiful McCaskey Prom pictures by David Porter.  The girls at my son’s eighth grade graduation party wore more “revealing” dresses than these.   Please check back later today…. SAY WHAT?   ~ It’s About Time! ~ Former President Carter Blasts Bush       Former President Carter says President Bush’s administration is "the worst in history" in international relations, taking aim at the White House's policy of pre-emptive war and its Middle East diplomacy.     …"We now have endorsed the concept of pre-emptive war where we go to war with another nation militarily, even though our own security is not directly threatened, if we want to change the regime there or if we fear that some time in the future our security might be endangered," he said. "But that's been a radical departure from all previous administration policies."     …Carter also lashed out Saturday at British prime minister Tony Blair.  Asked how he would judge Blair's support of Bush, the former president said: "Abominable. Loyal. Blind. Apparently subservient."     "And I think the almost undeviating support by Great Britain for the ill-advised policies of President Bush in Iraq have been a major tragedy for the world," Carter told British Broadcasting Corp. radio. Click here for the full text and please check back on Monday.   ROAD APPLES!       I have found the one and only interesting item in the new Lancaster Newspaper “blogs” and it’s a mystery/mistake.  You see, Jeff Reinhart’s “View From The Press Box” blog says it has had 39,938 visitors to date.  And Jason Guarente’s “Barnstormin’” blog has had 36,904 visitors.     Consider poor Gil Smart.  His blog says he has had only 1,112 visitors and Helen Colwell Adams’ blog has had only 394.  Mike Gross and his “The Jockstrap Chronicles’” blog (I’m not making that up) has had only 265 visitors.     Now, something is amiss here.  This can’t be.  Lancaster Online needs to check their “counters” and correct them.  There is no way that 36,904 people visited a boring blog about the boring Barnstormers in a little over a week.  No way.  I think Gil’s number is more in line with reality.