Christine Emmick

Barney Frank is Sorry for Voting to Take Funding Away from Indicted ACORN, Appeals for An Amendment

By Christine Emmick

Recently the US House of Representatives Financial Services Committee passed unanimously an amendment that would make it illegal for indicted organizations to receive public funds. This makes perfect sense that if an organization is in legal trouble, they shouldn't receive our money.

But ACORN is in legal trouble these days. Seems they may have bought some fraudulent voter registrations in Nevada and Pennsylvania. This created a dilemma for Mr. Barney Frank. He voted for this legislation that would eliminate funds for the Democrat loved ACORN.

"I did not read it carefully, and it was in the last minute that the amendment was accepted," he said. Sounds more like a plead for mercy for a horrible mistake. Somehow I think Barney the purple dinosaur could have done better.

Oh, but don't worry, He's proposing an amendment to put 8.5 billion of taxpayer dollars back in the hands of his ACORN buddies. So with or without the fraud allegation his friends can still get their funds to lobby congress.

And what will they do with those funds? if history is an indicator, ACORN will force congress to enact policies that will bankrupt American companies and crush our economy.

Take the housing crisis for instance. Not everyone agrees on who started the housing crisis problem. If you look a little down the road, you'll see "predatory lenders" just waiting to eat up their clients and spit them out. Look a bit further down the pipeline, you find government agencies accusing lenders of "discrimination" if they don't lend to people who don't qualify. Look a bit further into the sewer, you find activist groups, like ACORN, lobbying government to put the pressure on lenders to make these bad loan deals. Then you land in the stinky cesspool of lawyers like B. Hussein O., who spent their life's work representing ACORN.

Boston Globe writer Jeff Jacoby says of the US Representative of Massachusetts Barney Frank,

"...his fingerprints are all over this fiasco. Time and time again, Frank insisted that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were in good shape. Five years ago, for example, when the Bush administration proposed much tighter regulation of the two companies, Frank was adamant that "these two entities, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, are not facing any kind of financial crisis." When the White House warned of "systemic risk for our financial system" unless the mortgage giants were curbed, Frank complained that the administration was more concerned about financial safety than about housing."

Sounds like Frank's got a history of putting his foot in his mouth.

What does this mean for us? It means we get off our sleepy butts and tell our friends and family about what is happening. It means we drive someone, or lots of people, to the polls on election day. It means we help someone register to vote. It means we write our representatives and tell them if the vote for these things they won't get a vote from us. It means we take time to educate our young people about US history. It means we turn off the TV with it's brain numbing advertisements telling us what we want, and turn on real communication, fulfilling the real need for relationships. It means we make the media accountable for the propaganda they promote.

If we don't do these things, it means more government corruption, more favors to constituents and more of that "Change you can Bereave In."

Baggaley Elementary School Receives Over 13,500 Labels for Education^TM from Morella's Route 30 Shop-n-Save

By Christine Emmick

Over the last two years, the owners and patrons of Morella's Route 30 Shop-n-Save have donated over 39,500 Campbell's^® Labels for Education^TM to Latrobe area schools. The most recent donation was over 13,500 Labels for Education^TM certificates to a Latrobe area Elementary School. The students of Baggaley Elementary School in Latrobe happily received these at this month's PTA meeting from the owners, Craig and Lisa Morella, of the Latrobe area Shop-n-Save.

Campbell's Soup Labels for Education^TM program enables schools to get free school supplies and school equipment. With these certificates, the school can select anything from Crayola^® art supplies, Merriam-Webster's^® reference books and Math Blaster^® learning software, to playground equipment, to an overhead projector or a wireless PA system. The program also includes earning points for video projectors, iMac^® and Dell^® computers, flat panel TVs, educational games, science kits and models, microscopes and even an electronic scoreboard.

Members of the community joined their efforts by donating Labels for Education UPC codes from the products they use and dropping them off at the box located at the front of the service desk. Many Campbell's^® soup UPC codes qualify for the Labels for Education^TM program, and Labels for Education^TM points are also found on selected Spaghettios^®, Franco-American^®, Prego^®, Pepperidge Farm^® and Swanson^® products. Selected V8^® juice caps and certain Campbell's^® Foodservice products are even accepted. For more information on the program, visit www.labelsforeducation.com.

Look for Morella's on the web at www.rt30shopnsave.com where you'll find out more about their community events, including the What's Cooking at Morella's Route 30 Shop-n-Save radio show heard Saturdays at 10:30 a.m. on WCNS 1480. For more information about the Labels for Education^TM program, upcoming events, weekly specials or other sales promotions, contact the Morella's Route 30 Shop-n-Save at 724-532-3939.

Christine Emmick is a freelance foods and business writer based in the Pittsburgh area. You may contact Christine through her blog site at www.activerain.com/cemmick.

Cold Cow Ice Cream of West Mifflin and Morella's Route 30 Shop-n-Save in Latrobe to host "Banana Split Bonanza" ice cream social to raise funds for cancer research

By Christine Emmick

With the weather warming, it's a great time to have fun with the family and enjoy a cold ice cream treat. This Saturday, May 2, at 10:30 a.m., Morella's Shop-n-Save and Cold Cow ice cream are doing just that. In keeping with Cold Cow's pledge to "bring the fun back to ice cream," they will turn a life-sized canoe into a banana split serving dish. Cold Cow and Morella's Shop-n-Save will provide three huge mounds of ice cream, bananas and other toppings, in an effort to benefit the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life.

For a donation of only $1.00 to the Morella's Route 30 Shop-n-Save's Relay for Life team, patrons will receive a Cold Cow Ice cream sundae with 100% of the proceeds going to the American Cancer Society. There will also be Pepsi and hot dogs at a bargain price of $1.00, as well as a pie throwing contest and huge outdoor produce sale.

Present for the festivities will be Tom Lazarchik, the owner of Strickler's Pharmacy of Latrobe, PA, which is the birthplace of the banana split. He will place a ceremonial scoop atop the creamy cold creation outside the Latrobe Shop-n-Save while attendees enjoy the celebration.

The fun will also be broadcast live on "What's cooking at Morella's Route 30 Shop-n-Save" at 10:30 a.m. on radio station WCNS 1480. Tune in with the "What's Cooking" crew to hear all the excitement, get some great recipes and find out more about the Morella Relay for Life team. To get more information about the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life, or find out how you can become involved in Relay for Life, visit the ACS website at relayforlife.org or call the American Cancer Society at 1-800-ACS-2345.

Christine Emmick is a freelance foods and business writer based in the Pittsburgh area. You may contact Christine through her blog site at www.activerain.com/cemmick.

Most politicians have law degrees, even though the only requirement for getting elected is popularity. I'm proposing a new standard. Doctors, lawyers, nurses and engineers need a certain amount of education and credentials in order to earn a license to perform their jobs. This is because lives and livelihoods are at stake. The same is true for politicians, so they too should have an equal requirement.

Here is what I propose the politician's required education include:

• A full test on what the constitution says and what that group of articles means: If you don't know the constitution, you cannot pledge to uphold it.

• Dual major in both law and finance: If you don't understand law, you can't make it, and if you don't understand money, you should not be in control of mine.

• Graduate degree in history AND an MBA: If you are managing the biggest non-profit organization in the country, you need to know its past and how to manage.

• A full psychiatric profile: This is to weed out anyone with control issues, anger issues, father issues and those on power trips.

• Full lie-detector exam: If you can't tell the truth, you should not be in charge.

With these 5 requirements in place, the difficult job of running the country would not be left to power hungry liars who steal our money to spend any way they wish. Please note that there is no speech writing requirement, no photo spread and no charisma scale required. Like Susan Boyle, we need someone who can do the job, not necessarily look the part.

Many of you may ask, who wants to lose a client? Although we try to please everyone as a business owner, some clients are just not a good fit. Here are some good and bad ways to cut the strings.

BAD: Block their email. This will only work if they have no other way of contacting you. Returned email leaves a very bad taste in one's mouth, so be prepared for some backlash.

GOOD: Email them and say that things are not working out between you. Be concise but clear about the termination. Offer a referral to another company that can handle their needs.

BAD: Don't return their phone calls. Some will get the hint, others will not. Remember, when you own your own business it is impossible to avoid conflict.

GOOD: Return the call. Instead of picking up the phone when you might be off guard, let them leave a message. Think carefully and take notes about what you will say on the call, then call.

BAD: Miss meetings and appointments. Not only is this rude, it is a waste of your clients time and resources.

GOOD: Be there. You owe it to your client to show up when you say you will show up. Make it through the meeting, then when the work is done, talk about the change you'd like to make in the business relationship.

In today's loose business climate courtesy is sometimes lost, and even the most basic of social obligations fall by the wayside. Be sure you are the one holding up your end, even when you are letting it go.