Investasi di pasar modal, sama sekali tidak ada hubungannya dengan strata sosial. Apakah status sosial anda seorang direktur, pejabat politik, professor, atau hanya seorang mahasiswa sekali pun, anda memiliki peluang yang sama untuk berinvestasi pada industri pasar modal. Yang terpenting, ada kemauan dan yang pastinya ada uang lebih. So, kita harus pintar mengatur keuangan kita.

Untuk menjadi investor di pasar modal tidak perlu ragu untuk memulai, sebab tidak seluruh produk investasi di industri ini membutuhkan dana yang besar. Dari hari ke hari investasi di Bursa Efek Indonesia (BEI) sebenarnya kian murah saja, menyusul kian variatifnya produk efek di pasar modal yang bisa dijadikan sasaran investasi.

Mau investasi murah dan resikonya kecil? kita bisa memilih reksa dana sebagai pilihan. Produk reksa dana yang ditawarkan saat ini juga kian berkembang, dan disesuaikan dengan tujuan dari investasi kita. Jadi dalam reksa dana investor tinggal mencocokkan saja tujuan investasinya.

Untuk yang bermodal besar, tentunya beragam pilihan bisa dipilih, saham beserta derivatifnya, atau obligasi. Reksa dana sebagai sebuah instrumen investasi praktis lebih mudah dipahami bagi kita investor pemula. Untuk modal bagi reksa dana ini juga relatif lebih murah. Dengan cukup menyetor senilai Rp1 juta saja, kita sudah bisa ikut berperan serta dalam industri pasar modal. Reksa dana juga murah karena bebas pajak. Pajak yang dibebaskan oleh pemerintah adalah pajak penghasilan.

Untuk memulai , kita perlu melakukan diversifikasi yang artinya menyebar risiko investasi anda pada berbagai instrumen untuk mengurangi risiko investasi. Jika memiliki sedikit dana kita sulit melakukan diversifikasi karena harga instrumen investasi yang mahal tersebut. Akan tetapi dengan menggabungkan dana bersama para investor lain, diversifikasi ini dimungkinkan. Terlebih lagi diversifikasi merupakan syarat mutlak dalam berinvestasi, karena bisa meminimalkan risiko kerugian akibat turunnya nilai investasi. Di samping itu berinvestasi reksa dana likuiditasnya juga tinggi, sehingga kapan saja dana dapat dicairkan, investor tinggal melakukan redepmtion kepada pengelola investasi. Sebagai sebuah instrumen investasi yang dibentuk bersama untuk kepentingan bersama, investasi pada reksa dana memiliki banyak pilihan.

Dengan beragamnya pilihan tersebut investor dapat dengan mudah memilih reksa dana apa yang akan menjadi sasaran investasinya. Reksa dana Pasar uang (money market fund), misalnya, merupakan reksa dana yang berinvestasi pada pasar uang seperti deposito, SBI, dan obligasi jangka pendek. Biasanya tingkat pengembalian reksa dana pasar uang lebih tinggi dari jasa giro tapi lebih rendah dari Deposito, akan tetapi bisa dicairkan setiap saat. Lalu ada reksa dana pendapatan tetap ( Fixed Income Fund). Investasi utama reksa dana ini ada pada obligasi yang dikeluarkan oleh perusahaan dan pemerintah.

Seperti halnya reksa dana pasar uang, jenis ini selalu memperoleh pendapatan dari pembayaran kupon (bunga), dan memberikan tingkat pengembalian yang lebih tinggi dari suku bunga. Akan tetapi nilai reksa dana ini seperti halnya obligasi bisa berfluktuasi sejalan dengan perubahan bunga. Jika bunga naik harga obligasi akan turun dan sebaliknya. Untuk reksa dana saham (equity fund), jenis reksa dana ini menginvestasikan dananya pada saham yang terdaftar di bursa saham. Walaupun dalam jangka pendek reksa dana saham bisa berfluktuasi secara signifikan, akan tetapi dalam jangka 3-5 tahun tingkat pengembaliannya diharapkan bisa mengalahkan reksa dana lainnya. Sedangkan reksa dana campuran mencampurkan saham dan obligasi, komposisi saham biasa berkisar antara 50-65 persen, sisanya pada obligasi (hal ini bergantung dengan mekanisme yang diatur oleh perusahaan di mana reksa dana tersebut di terbitkan).

Reksa dana ini cocok bagi para investor yang tidak menginginkan risiko terlalu besar dari modalnya, tetapi bersedia mengambil sedikit risiko untuk tambahan pendapatan ekstra. Sebagaimana investasi pada instrumen investasi lainnya, yang perlu dipahami oleh kita dalam berinvestasi pada reksa dana ini adalah tidak ada jaminan selalu mendapatkan keuntungan, bisa naik bisa turun. Jadi semua tergantung juga kepada kepandaian kita menganalisa pasar, Ok!

A mix of good and bad news as reported by Patrick Burns in this morning’s Intelligencer Journal: Bulova Technologies, which has a small manufacturing operation downtown at Lancaster Square, has been sold and will be moving to Florida. Forty people are losing their jobs. Boluva’s historty traces back to the Hamilton Watch Company. The good news is that Stephen Gurba, who runs the company, sold the company but not the building. He plans to renovate the building, putting in things like, oh, say, windows, and to stick around as the landlord. Commerce Bank, under its new name Metro Bank, will be moving into the first floor by 2010.

Also, Lancaster Brewing Company’s Hop Hog was featured on Gunaxin yesterday in their Drink Better Beer series.

Yesterday was a big news day around the world.

A phone call from president-elect Obama triggered a long series of events that contributed to the downfall of Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich. Investors began to lose money holding U.S. debt as Treasury bills began earning negative interest for the first time since World War II. The Christian Science Monitor’s editorial board sought to curb a new shopping spree for Hummers as gas prices edge below $1.50, by suggesting a higher gas tax. Facebook removed the group “Jew Parking Appreciation Group,” which busted on taking up more than one parking space.

Arts & Letters Daily has new T-shirts for sale

Redskins star running back Clinton Portis trashed his coach, Jim Zorn, and speculated that Zorn’s plays are too complex, which is “why the O-line’s sometime confused.” The Comic-Con 3-minute preview clip of Watchmen hit iTunes. Michael Bay announced that the first trailer for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen will debut in early February. A middle-eastern farmer in South Lebanon dug up a 25-pound potato.

Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey explained that Detroit auto workers do not average $73/hour in wages. House’s Dr. Cuddy finally got herself a baby, while Russia’s GDP hit a 3-year low. That didn’t stop Russia from promising to take India’s second astronaut into space in 2013. London Business School professor Lynda Gratton wrote that recessions let new ideas flourish, and lead us “to question the prevailing norms of leadership and decision-making.”

It appeared possible that Barack Obama’s seat in the U.S. Senate could be filled by a Republican. SEO geeks rejoiced as the founder of Hakia argued that creating refined online semantic ontologies must become a top priority in all fields, saying, “We cannot afford a future in which knowledge is at the mercy of popularity and money.” Harvard University’s endowment lost 22% of its value since June 30, when it stood at $36.9 billion. It turns out we were not living in a golden age of art; there was simply an investment bubble in contemporary art. God decided we’re smiting ourselves just fine, and the Lolcats got into the Christmas spirit.

Recently, while at a hostel in Fremantle Western Australia, Paul from Dublin mentioned that tourists can no longer kiss the blarney stone. They can only touch it.

We thought this would be a good item for one of the columns.

We try to get news and information that is unique and (if possible) original (i.e. a “scoop”). While living in L. A. we spent a good deal of time reading magazines and newspapers (usually at the Santa Monica Public Library) looking for possible items. We tell our readers what the code name for President and Mrs. Reagon was before the Huffington Post told their readers about the code names for President Obama, his wife and their two kids. Could it be that the Huff-Po got the idea for their story while reading this blog?

While traveling in Austalia, it is a bit difficult to keep up with the news and get items and ideas so it it time to start a WLJ tip-line.

We invite readers to send us news tips at
worldslaziestjournalist@yahoo.com

Some time back a fellow tipped us to the gold mining operation in South America that called for the movement of a glacier. We wrote a column and a month later the BBC covered the same story.

We can not pay for newstips, but we will include a very sincere “Thank You!” in any columns or blog entries that are inspired by a reader’s news tip.

Thanks!

Participants at Lancaster2020. Photo by Russell Frost.

On November 11, as many as 275 Lancaster-area residents attended a day-long summit for local leaders, Lancaster2020. The event was run by AmericaSpeaks, and participation was by invitation only. The invitations came from a steering committee composed of representatives from the three sponsoring organizations—the Lancaster County Community Foundation, the United Way of Lancaster County, and The Lancaster Chamber of Commerce & Industry. The organizers were hoping for a turnout of 350 participants. Part of the participation shortfall came from a lack of private sector leaders accepting invitations, and another part came from a near-total lack of elected officials (Mike Sturla being the only exception).

At any rate, here are the top four opportunities as identified during that day-long summit (and no, I was not a participant):

1. Ensure access to quality education
   Promote strong and purposeful partnership between school district and community-based programs focuses on successful youth. Provide school districts with resources to improve graduation rates.
2. Attract and grow business
   Make Lancaster County a viable place for businesses. Create policies and tax opportunities to attract established businesses to the area. Promote and support entrepreneurial businesses including cultural and arts businesses.
3. Reduce duplication and improve efficiency of public services.
   Improve communication efforts within sectors, i.e., municipal governments, school districts, nonprofits, and for profits. Reward collaborative efforts by aligning funding sources (not-for-profit, for-profit and public/government) and reducing duplicate services. Create tax incentives that encourage governments to cooperate with each other or consolidate services.
4. Establish innovative land-management zoning practices
   Encourage collaborative land-management programs and policies that address issues such as high-density housing, increased brown field and urban development, rehabilitate/reuse policies, farmland preservation, and municipal partnerships.

Another interesting detail is the breakdown by age:

• 15–19: 12%
• 20–34: 9%
• 35–44: 22%
• 45–54: 28%
• 65 & older: 29%

The list of “honorable mention” opportunities, which were identified but did not make it into the top four, is also interesting:

• Improve financial stability of residents
  Ensure basic needs are being met through opportunities to work, finish school, or enroll in vocational training. Increase residents’ financial literacy so sound financial decisions are made.
• Increase equity and inclusion
  Create and implement cross-cultural events to enhance positive intercultural relationships to reduce discrimination. Provide a safe forum for dialogue. Encourage policies that promote justice, inclusion and understanding of all people regardless of race, gender, religion, culture, sexual orientation, age, disability, etc. Increase collaboration between community, government, and faith-based leaders to reduce fear and promote inclusively.
• Recruit and train next generation leaders
  Recognize and support the community’s young leaders. Develop a young leader’s leadership program and fold these people into significant leadership gatherings. Recognize and promote leadership voices.
• Increase citizen involvement and volunteerism.
  Promote active citizenship and public participation as the responsibility of every individual. Ensure opportunities for citizen dialogue, participation and engagement via public forums and flexible regulations and policies.
• Improve infrastructure and public services
  Invest in infrastructure improvements, such as, roadways, water, sewer, bridges, broadband services, etc. Invest in an expanded, countywide public transportation system to increase access to job opportunities in hard-to-reach locations.
• Align economic development activities across sectors
  Align economic activities across not-far-profit, for-profit, and public/governmental organizations. Build on the county’s economic plan to enhance regional prosperity.
• Create safe and attractive neighborhoods
  Implement a neighborhood (city, suburban, and rural) plan that includes safety precautions via lights and built environment (e.g., hedgerows, natural surveillance systems) and promotes aesthetics and beautification. Ensure that streets, footpaths, and cycle paths are well lit and well maintained. Increase citizens’ sense of community pride and promote citizen ownership of the neighborhoods.
• Invest in sound environmental practices
  Reward efforts to improve air, water, and soil quality. Provide tax incentives far sound environmental practices such as green roofs, rain water run off collection systems, green buildings, lower emissions, and enhanced public transportation.

It’s worth mentioning that some participants were bothered that health care did not make it even to the “honorable mentions.”

Reactions?

JEFFREY,

I APPRECIATE READING YOUR INTERVIEW WITH CARROLL CAMPBELL III.

I WOULD LIKE TO INVITE YOUR ATTENTION TO MY CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE OFFICE OF ANOTHER POSSIBLE CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR, ATTORNEY GENERAL HENRY MCMASTER. 

AT THIS TIME, THERE HAVE BEEN NO FURTHER RESPONSES.  INFORMATION IS THAT THE ATTORNEY WHO REPRESENTED TROOPER GARREN IS PLANNING TO BRING A SUIT AGAINST THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OFFICE FOR NOT FULFILLING THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OFFICE’S  RESPONSIBILITIES UNDER LAW (SEE SECTION 1-7-50 BELOW).  THERE WERE GREAT EXPENSES INVOLVED IN THE TRIAL BY BOTH SIDES FOR “EXPERT WITNESSES”.   INDIRECT INFORMATION IS THAT THE TROOPER HAD TO GO TO GREAT EXTREMES TO PROTECT HIMSELF, INCLUDING TAKING OUT A SECOND MORTAGE ON HIS HOME. 

I HAVE SPENT A GOOD BIT OF TIME IN THE GREENWOOD-ABBEVILLE AREA RECENTLY WHERE I WAS RAISED UP AND HAVE RELATIVES, FRIENDS, CLASSMATES, ETC.  TROOPER GARREN IS RESPECTED BY THE PUBLIC AND HIS FELLOW LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS.

ANY FURTHER INFORMATION THAT I MAY PROVIDE, FEEL FREE TO BE IN TOUCH.

THANK YOU.

A. CITIZEN, RET

SC HIGHWAY PATROL

Three (really rustic) graphics:

Together, they spell trouble for Republicans here in Lancaster County, PA, which has for decades been a dependable stronghold for the GOP. The graphics represent, in order, the outcome of the 2000, 2004, and 2008 presidential elections.

• Dark red indicates the Republican received better than 60% of the vote.
• Light red indicates the Republican won, but his challenger received more than 40% of the vote.
• Dark blue indicates the Democrat received better than 60% of the vote.
• Light blue indicates the Democrat won, but his challenger received more than 40% of the vote.

While McCain/Palin still won Lancaster County last week by a comfortable 55/43 split (Ralph Nader got half a percent; Ron Paul got two-tenths of a percent as a write-in), the numbers indicate a changing electorate within our county. I was actually astonished to compare for myself the decisive break from voting patterns in the 2000 and 2004 elections. (Forgive the poor graphics quality; I did these myself.)

Here are a few ways of breaking down the numbers.

City vs. County

Lancaster City landslided for Obama, 76% to McCain’s 23%. The city represented 21,975 votes, or 10% of county voters. Compare this to much slimmer margins in 2004, where Kerry beat Bush 62 to 38, and 2008, where Gore beat Bush 57 to 39.

Once you subtract the city’s votes, Lancaster County favored McCain, less overwhelmingly, 59 to 40. Non-city residents cast 202,816 votes, making up the other 90% of voters. A margin of 19 points is gigantic, but a shocking change from 2004, when Bush carried 69 to Kerry’s 31, and 2000, when Bush also received 69% of the vote and Gore eked out 29.

Urban vs. Suburban/Exurban/Rural

That breakdown, however, ignores the important fact that there are urban dwellers living in other municipalities beside Lancaster City. Perhaps it is more fair to compare all the county’s “urban” voters against the rest. I ran the numbers comparing city and borough precincts against township precincts (including the urbanized Lancaster Township with the boroughs).

In urbania county-wide, Obama beat McCain 56–43, with 73,366 voters weighing in (33% of voters). In 2000 and 2004, Bush carried the county’s urban areas 56-43 and 57-40, respectively.

Away from urban districts, McCain beat Obama 61-37, with 151,425 voters. Again, this looks decisive until compared with Bush’s victories in 2004 and 200: 70-30 and 70-28.

Stack the Deck

What if we stack the deck? Just for fun, I picked out out all the municipalities in Lancaster County that went for Obama, and pitted them against the rest of the county. Here’s how it looks:

Select Municipalities: Obama 68, McCain 31.  Eighteen percent of the Lancaster County electorate, or 40,319 voters, currently live in areas where a majority of their neighbors currently lean Democratic. In 2004, those same municipalities on the whole went for Kerry by 61-38, and for Gore by just 57-39.

The Rest of Municipalities: McCain 61, Obama 38. Even in the most Republican areas of the county, Democratic voters should have no trouble finding many neighbors who share their political viewpoint. In these municipalities, Bush carried 2004 by 69-30, and 2000 by 69-28.

Perhaps most interesting is the list of municipalities who voted for Obama:

• Columbia Borough
• Christiana Borough (by a single vote)
• Mountville
• Marietta
• Millersville
• Lancaster City
• Lancaster Township

Columbia borough voted Democratic in 2000 but not in 2004. Lancaster City, Lancaster Township, and part of Millersville borough voted Democratic in both 2000 and 2004. Christiana and Mountville’s votes came out of the blue; Marietta has for some time been on the Democrats’ wishlist as a municipality to pick up.

If you’d like to look at the raw data for yourself, the County has a list of polling locations, which you can use to decipher the election results for the past eight years.

Editorials from the Lancaster Sunday News still do not appear online, on the paper’s site at lancasteronline.com. This is an important endorsement, so I am sharing it here for the sake of the voting public of our county. This editorial ran in the November 2, 2008 edition.

Bring It Home

Don’t let scare tactics stop you: Vote ‘yes” for Home-Rule Charter and having your voice heard.

Nearly lost in the shuffle of the presidential race, there’s one ballot question that promises a better government for Lancaster County.

The question is whether to ratify the Home-Rule Charter that eight of the 11 members of the Lancaster County Government Study Commission have spent the last year writing.

While the Sunday News does not endorse candidates, we do make endorsements on ballot initiatives that we believe are significant. The Home-Rule referendum is one of those.

We hope you will vote yes to Home Rule.

The Charter isn’t perfect. No human endeavor is. But overall, the Charter represents a quantum leap in more open, accountable government for this growing county:

• It commits county government to operating in the Sunshine, rather than under cover of secrecy.
• It allows taxpayers far more control over tax and debt levels than we have now.
• It creates a structure that contains more checks and balances than the nearly 300-year-old form of government that we are forced to use under state law.
• It gives the people the right to be heard by their elected representatives and to take issues to the ballot, if enough voters agree on the importance of the issue.
• It focuses on long-term fiscal and budgetary planning, something sorely lacking in county government now.
• It eliminates some redundant “row offices” and consolidates others.

Those are justa few of the reasons why we’re supporting Home Rule.

Unfortunately, opponents have resorted to distortions and fear-mongering to frighten you into voting against the Charter.

Even more unfortunately, the county Republican committee has been in the forefront of the fear-mongering, which puzzles and disappoints us. Republicans have painted the Home-Rule Charter as just short of a communist plot, something that will cause every evil down to the heartbreak of psoriasis.

Thirty-five years ago, the first time Lancaster County took a look at Home Rule, county Republicans, including former party chairman K.L. Shirk Jr., were in the vanguard of support for drafting a Charter.

How times have changed. Since the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce & Industry and a coalition of other organizations began promoting a Home-Rule ballot initiative in 2006, the county GOP committee has been intent on obstructing any change in government.

In the first effort at Home Rule, both major parties were supportive. This year, Democrats are neutral;
Republicans are adamantly opposed.

We can understand honest disagreements with the Charter. But given the tone of the campaign, we fear, as former congressman Bob Walker—Mr. Republican—said in announcing support for the Charter, that there are “some in the political hierarchy of both major parties who are willing to protect perks and patronage at the expense of a good governance opportunity.”

This Charter, which gives taxpayers far more local control than the current structure does, is indeed an opportunity for change in the right direction.

Contrary to what opponents would have you believe, Home Rule does not lead to higher taxes. Politicians lead to higher taxes. Only the elected county commissioners—in the current system and under Home Rule—can raise taxes. Only the elected county commissioners, now and under home rule, can increase the size of government.

We believethe people of this county are far more able to direct the way their government should be set up than lawmakers in Harrisburg are. That’s what Home Rule allows you to do.

Home Rule never went to the voters in 1973; the state Commonwealth Court upheld a legal challenge to the way the referendum creating the government study commission was worded. On Tuesday, you can cast your first vote on Home Rule. You have a chanceto make your voice heard.

Vote for hope, not fear.

Here, in an online exclusive, is a sample ballot for Lancaster County, as it will appear when you go to vote on Tuesday. I encourage everyone to use the paper ballot, since the electronic machines do not create a paper trail (and are thus vulnerable to accidental or malicious tampering).

I’m working on a post about different views of consumer debt. In the meantime, here’s a fascinating social networking experiment that could serve as a much-needed boost to quality blogging: http://chuckwestbrook.com/great-content-no-readers/.

Lancaster County Twitter users (or, if you prefer, Tweeps, Twitterati, Twitterfolk, Twitterers, or Tweeters) had a field day with last night’s first presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain, hosted by Jim Lehrer.

If you aren’t on Twitter and would like to be, I invite you to check out my quickstart guide (pdf).

Here are highlights, in chronological order. The conversation started around 3 p.m.:

ericrasmussen I wonder what John McCain will say tonight

Zoidland McCain is preemptively declaring himself the winner of tonight’s debate. Now THAT’S chutzpah: http://is.gd/3aHx (Thanks @GrammarGirl !)

WITFNews Tonight’s debate is at 9 o’clock. You can hear it on WITF 89.5 or watch it on WITF-TV.

adamhann check this out, endless tweets about the election -> http://election.twitter.com/

claytonmorris I want to play a debate drinking game. We’ll drink each time we hear the words “change” and “country first.”

seagoat Psyched for the debate. Got my basic cable all set up, no booze though. I’ll remedy that shortly

ethand_local Looking forward to Damon’s debate party tonight with the mccain meetup

WGAL Obama, McCain To Debate Amid Financial Crisis : Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama are set to debate Friday .. http://tinyurl.com/4v3tjj

600reviewer Twitter the debate! Check www.current.com/debate

ethand_local Damons to loud heading to franks house

…And then the debate began at 9 p.m….:

sarx Debate time! woo.

Chorazin Damn, Obama knows how to work the camera!

jtkendall watching the debate. It sounds to me like McCain is just rewording what Obama just said, adding a few things, but parrot-like in nature.

600reviewer Too much Ike already!  [note: this was about 9:04]

600reviewer Where is McCain’s lapel pin? How unpatriotic

quixado “Festooned!” Triple word score for McCain.

kmueller62 @danielklotz their mouths are moving, but i’m not hearing much

600reviewer Wasn’t Palin Miss Congenliality?

quixado Wonder how long until “googleforgovernment.com” is registered.

kmueller62 looks like Jim Lehrer is winning the debate

danielklotz This debate could be much more interesting: http://tinyurl.com/4vzfzj

sarx Terrorists. Take a shot.

rubyred_x My kid said her teacher is voting for McCain. Then she said “Probably because they both have the same weird saggy neck”.

danielklotz Did Obama just say “orgy”?

Knownhuman Orgy of spending! I’ll drink to that!

quixado 38 minutes in to first mention of “maverick.”

kmueller62 Obama’s numbers don’t seem to add up…

danielklotz $10 billion a month in Iraq means the bailout is the same price as 5 years, 10 months of military operation in Iraq, right?

seagoat I’m not even sure who is winning the debate at this point.

…About 10 p.m….:

icelander I’m not even drinking alcohol. THAT’S how little I care about the debate. Somebody @ me if McCain calls Obama uppity.

jtkendall spinning fox news logo … stop spinning. You add nothing to the debate.

kmueller62 btw, check out factcheck.org tomorrow to help cut thru the spin

ethand Obama needs a new word other than “brilliantly”

sarx ‘john, i got a point. I’ve got a bracelet too’

ScottSkiba Each candidate seems to be playing to their already decided base. I’m not hearing anything we haven’t heard numerous times previously.

600reviewer @scottskiba I couldn’t agree more! Rehash of the old and nothing new!

icelander @ScottSkiba Thus the reason I’m ignoring the debate in favor of cleaning my basement.

GuyTessler Playing to emotions and patriotism is escape of last resort when reason dissapears

danielklotz Waziristan: Who Knew?

600reviewer McCain is just snide & is acting like my crabby old Uncle John

danielklotz Again I say, being willing to talk with someone is not the same as being willing to sit down *at the table* with them.

kmueller62 @danielklotz but obamas previous statements are clearly postured in sitting down at the table. and he seriously misquoted kissinger

ethand Oh snap McCain is trouncing now

Chorazin LOOK AT OBAMA MCCAIN! You look so intimidated, like the frail old man you are. Give him your respect.

danielklotz McCain looked into Putin’s eyes and saw letters from the Latin alphabet.

danielklotz I like Obama’s policy toward Russia. It has two neat little points. Whew, I’m so relieved it isn’t a complex and nuanced policy.

danielklotz Go McCain! Preach it on never torturing anyone ever again. That’s the kind of stand you used to make, and what could make you great again.

kmueller62 well. i’m unimpressed with what i’m hearing from either side. empty rhetoric.

seagoat I think McCain is winning.

Chorazin I KNEW that McCain couldn’t go the entire debate without mentioning being a PoW!

kmueller62 and…its over. yawn

adamhann wow, that was interesting, didn’t help me figure out who I want to vote for yet

600reviewer I call it a draw, actuall

TRezendes Didn’t get to watch the debate, but almost feel like I did since almost my entire list of followers was tweeting about it. And I recorded it.

quixado Thought it was awesome I had a tweet on during the debate on @current.

danielklotz What was your most memorable moment from the debate? For me, it’s going to be the tit-for-tat about the bracelets. Awesomely flaky.

600reviewer I can’t WAIT to read the Tweets about the Biden – Palin debate.

TRezendes When’s the next debate? We should have a party. Or at least go to a bar.

Chorazin @barackObama owned this debate. Great job!

StationeryinPA What-the-heck-ISTAN??

BodyworksLancPA buried in debate analysis

TannerTrosper Debate Reaction: Neither man gave even a respectable answer regarding the state of our economy.

adamhann welp, not going to solve the worlds problems tonight, so I’m heading to bed.

quixado @TRezendes I’m for debate parties. Next one is the VP debate on 10.02.

jaytran well that was a boring debate. anyone agree? what are they doing? makes no sense to me I wish one of them would say something worth our time

justashcraft I started watching the debate tonight and could not stand how they would not answer the question asked of them.

seagoat Everyone that is defending Obama’s performance right now and trying to spin it makes me eternally sad.

…About 1 a.m….:

LancasterNews Local analysts consider presidential debate a tie: Local pundits believe the first presidential deb.. http://tinyurl.com/3tx7zg

Wow! What a month, and thanks to all of you who contributed to the site

The first and second place winners were so close to both winning, that after checking and re-checking point scores, we have decided it would only be fair to award both users a prize. So the first place winner will be given a choice from our current prize selection, and the second place winner will be given a choice from a secondary prize selection (see prizes page).

Drum-roll please……….

The winner of the July 2008 GMNews competition with 55 points in comments and 10 points in news tips and a total of 65 points is….

Elmernite

And our second place winner (who will also receive a prize [see Update below]) with 50 points in comments and 14 points in news tips and with a total of 64 points is…..

Caniac

Congratulations to both of you! You both have put in a lot of effort and deserve a prize. We never thought it could come down to this and it very much surprised all of us how close the numbers were.

For those of you who are wondering: Caniac had more posted comments than Elmernite, however most of them were short and quick. Elmernite wrote longer posts that showed more effort, quality, and contained more information.

We also want to thank the following runner-ups who also did a great job:

- Mattthew_H
- Legocrazy1
- Nikhil Sharma

For everyone else, please see the Prizes page for information on the competition and prize choices.
Remember, all you have to do is post a comment or submit a news tip and you’re in the running to win the monthly prizes.

UPDATE: Caniac has generously declined and donated his prize back to GMNews in exchange for the opportunity to win next month’s prize give-away.

This page is for…

• Visitors of Lancaster County, PA who would like to use Twitter to talk to people who live here
• Residents of Lancaster County, PA who want to find other Twitter users in the area

Lancaster County, PA Twitter Users

Who’s on the list

Use of social media tool Twitter has skyrocketed in Lancaster, PA in the past year.

Everyone listed here lives in (or very near) Lancaster County and likes to talk about what’s going on in Lancaster. On the whole, we are a coffee- and beer-loving crowd that can be easily coaxed into spontaneous tweetups. If you’re from out of town and need a recommendation on what to do or where to go, these are good people to ask. (The people at the PA Dutch Visitors Bureau are helpful, too.) We’re also useful if you’re bored, or want to know what the weather’s like, or if you’d like to keep up with what’s going on in Lancaster when you’re away.

Please consider joining the Lancaster, PA Tweetups group on Facebook.

Lancaster Twitterati

pameppinette (Pam Eppinette) Lives: Ephrata. Personal development and leadership coach. Internet marketer and sales representative for LocalAdLink and MonaVie juices.

ionrae & unitheo (Ryan Mast) Lives: Millersville. Videographer and graphic designer, undergrad student at Millersville University.

jeffmclain (Jeff McLain) Lives: Lancaster. Social activist and blogger.

jasethegr81 (Jason Hean) Lives: Washington Borough. Marketing professional.

JoelTweets (Joel Walker) Lives: Lancaster. Customer relationship guy for AMQ Software.

sandersonimages & kimSanderson (John & Kimberly Sanderson) Live: Strasburg; Studio: downtown Lancaster city. Phtographers specializing in artististic wedding and portrait photography.

thebestjeremy (Jeremy Bentley) Lives: downtown Lancaster city. Graphic designer and music recording engineer.

annekirby (Anne Kirby) Lives: downtown Lancaster city. Founder of the Creative House of Lancaster.

kmueller62 (Ken Mueller) Lives: Elizabethtown. WXPN’s Central PA guy. Wears moose pants.

TRezendes (Timothy Rezendes) Lives: dowtown Lancaster city. Central Market guru.

iamkyle (Kyle Sollenberger) Lives: downtown Lancaster city. Partner at LaunchAbility.

berutt (Bryan Rutt) Lives: Lancaster city. Music fan.

WiseGrass (Paul Stoltzfus) Lives: Bird-in-Hand.

tommurse (Tom Murse) Lives: Lancaster city. Reporter & blogger at the Lancaster New Era.

20orsomething (Susan Pogorzelski) Lives: Lancaster suburbs.

BodyworksLancPA (Barbara Searles) Lives: Rohrerstown. Owner of Bodyworks Therapeutic Massage.

Zoidland (Jeff Burkholder) Lives: Lititz. His comic strip often references Central PA ideas and food.

jacksvalentine (Nean Burkholder) Lives: Lititz. Writer and a stay-at-home mom.

LancasterHomes (Jeff Geoghan) Lives: East Petersburg. Real estate agent and founder of YourLancasterHome.com.

AdamChlan (Adam Chlan) Lives: downtown Lancaster city. Web designer.

icelander (Paul Rothrock) Lives: downtown Lancaster city. PHP developer.

HIRH (Hillary Rothrock) Lives: downtown Lancaster city. Mental health counselor.

quixado (Josh Babetski) Lives: Mountville. Evangelist for MapQuest.

wtek (Wendy Edsall-Kerwin) Lives: Elizabethtown. Jewelry/metal artist.

caroldeckert (Carol Deckert) Lives: Centerville. Netweaving/networking coach.

maxtana (Max Phillips) Lives: Mount Joy. Partner at Not Bad Design.

msmonogram (Becky Wise Garvey) Lives: Lancaster suburbs. Conversationalist extraordinaire and the fabulous director of fun at the New Holland Recreation Center.

lydbru (Lydia Brubaker) Lives: downtown Lancaster city. Theater person and barista.

ethanD & ethand_local (Ethan Demme) Lives: Leola. Founder of Keystone Conservative and COO for Math-U-See, which develops homeschool mathematics curricula.

c_visual & unveilpatterns (Christine Minnich) Lives: Lancaster city. Graphic designer for Math-U-See and blogger.

enti (Matthew Harrington) Lives: Lancaster suburbs. Leads product development at Nxtbook Media.

EndureOnline (Chad McComsey) Lives: Lancaster suburbs. Founder of Endure Graphic Web Design.

jonathanbentz (Jonathan Bentz) Lives: Marietta. Works for SEO firm ProspectMX. Fantasy sports fanatic.

wordcooper (Eric Cooper) Lives: Manheim Township. Works in Bird-in-Hand. IT/Web and writing.

PattiSpencer (Patti Spencer) Practices law in Lancaster, focusing on trusts, estates and fiduciary litigation.

jtkendall (Josh Kendall) Lives: Elizabethtown. Web developer. Owner of UXFocus.

easyEZ (Elam Zook) Lives: Lancaster suburbs. Raised Old Order Amish, but today he’s on Twitter (enough said). Writes a blog on the relationship between the Amish and the non-Amish culture.

sunshineshannon Pretzel communicator/promoter for Auntie Anne’s Pretzels (delicious!).

BbeS (Bryan Coe) Lives: downtown Lancaster city. Founder of Blackbird e-Solutions.

RobinBurgoon (Robin Burgoon) Lives: Lancaster suburbs (Neffsville/Manheim Township). Stay-at-home mom, work-from-home online SAP trainer, tech writer.

mbigg (Michael Biggerstaff) Lives: Lancaster. Owner/CEO at Nxtbook Media.

esposimi (Mike Esposito) Lives: Lititz. Avid Max OSX user and former resident of Queens, NY.

Chorazin (Seth Dodson) Lives: downtown Lancaster city. Host of the Elite Arcadian Review Force podcast, which reviews video games.

unclechet (Chester Zink) Lives: west end Lancaster city. Gamer geek and general nerd. Into cooking, good food, and reading restaurant review sites.

jeffrumm (Jeff Rumm) Lives: downtown Lancaster city. Co-founder of Good Productions.

mikedawnmiller (Mike Miller) Lives: Lititz. Comcast cable technician.

RyanShenHoover (Ryan Shen-Hoover) Lives: Lancaster suburbs. Expert on African stock markets.

bev562008 (Bev Newton) Lives: Neffsville. Retired military. Sometime movie extra.

beckami (Ami Becker) Lives: East Petersburg. Wife. Mother. Owner of Shiba Inus.

teb (Teb Locke) Lives: downtown Lancaster city. Instructional technologist/designer at Franklin & Marshall College.

gianmichael (Gianmichael Salvato, M.Sc., Th.D.) Lives: downtown Lancaster city. Market development consultant/executive coach, contemplative Buddhist monk.

marcusgrimm & nxtbook (Marcus Grimm) Lives: East Hempfield. Marketing director at Nxtbook Media, whose offices are at Urban Place in Lancaster City.

fancyshoe (Brent Hughes) Lives: Oxford, works: downtown Lancaster city. Flash/graphic designer with Nxtbook Media.

captainval (Valerie Miller) Lives: York, works: Lancaster suburbs. Assistant editor at Business2Business magazine.

Lithium718 (Luis Salazar) Lives: Millersville. From NYC; student and athlete at Millersville University.

loribaer (Lori Baer) Lives: Willow Street. Freelance writer and food blogger.

Paula_Holzman (Paula Holzman) Lives: New Holland. Reporter for Central Penn Business Journal. Covers health care and nonprofits in the midstate as well as business in general in Lancaster County.

dotcomlarry (Larry Tomlinson) Lives: Lancaster suburbs. Missionary who works with Internet and media.

JLDSystems (Jeff Dombach) Lives: Centerville. Entrepreneur of JLD Systems (“We do the stuff behind the buttons”).

passionategreen (Sarah Bloom) Lives: Lancaster. Runs PassionateGreen.

Dianehere (Diane Moore) Lives: East Hempfield. Interested in conservative issues and local networking. Does web content writing on the side.

veraviolet (Michelle McGovern) Lives: Leola. Administrative staff for the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra.

kemics (Matt Groff) Lives: Adamstown. IT consultant

ritawiebner & Wiebner (Rita & Joel Wiebner) Live:  Lancaster city.  Co-owners of The Wiebners, wedding and portrait photographers.

lholubec (Lauren Holubec) Lives: Ephrata. Public relations consultant with the Lebanon County Career & Technology Center and freelancer.

ranzino (Brian Evans) Lives: Lititz. Organizer of the Lancaster Photography Meetup.

MickeyGlick (Mickey Glick) Lives: Lancaster city. Owner of Body & Soul Fitness Studio.

kharzinski (Kristofer Harzinski) Lives: Lancaster City. Curator extraordinaire for the Hand-Drawn Map Association.

justashcraft (Justin Ashcraft) Lives: Manheim. Blogger and music fan.

gypsymare (Jennifer MacNiell-Traylor) Lives: East Petersburg. Artist specializing in paintings of horses.

odonnellsteve (Steve O’Donnell) Lives: Lancaster Township. Patent attorney.

jurina (Al Jurina) Lives: downtown Lancaster city. Educator/technology coordinator and photographer.

DexterVonDoom (Garrett Faber) Lives: downtown Lancaster city.

kateloving (Kate Loving Shenk) Lives: Lancaster, on the banks of the Conestoga River. Nurse, healer, and community organizer for single-payer universal healthcare legislation in Pennsylvania.

IJLIFE (Linda Espenshade) Lives: Lancaster suburbs. Feature writer for the Lancaster Intelligencer Journal and writer of other creative nonfiction.

infolibrarian (Mardy McGaw) Lives: Hempfield. Classrooms for the Future coach at Conestoga Valley School District, member of the Discovery Educators Network, and student of the intersection of information technology and education.

lordoverdrive (David Moulton) Lives: New Holland. Software support for Stauffers of Kissel Hill.

krishaM (Krisha Martzall) Lives: downtown Lancaster city. Professional photographer.

getfreshdesigns (Doug Vogel) Lives: Manheim. Maker of offbeat T-shirts.

jeremywalter (Jeremy Walter) Lives: Lancaster. Financial advisor at Bare Financial Services and flag football athlete.

karmapolice63 (Pete Crain) Lives: Willow Street & West Chester, PA. Guitar and music composition undergraduate student.

JesseEngle (Jesse Engle) Lives: Hershey. CEO of CoTweet, a Twitter service for businesses, and organizer of the Central PA New Tech Meetup.

lezsct (Leslie Scott) Lives: Lancaster. Artist/teacher of glass fusing, precious metal clap (PMC) and bronze clay. New Orleans native.

chetwill (Chet Williamson) Lives: Elizabethtown. Particularly terse writer-actor guy.

godesignunit (Nick Setthachayanon, Nida Setthachayanon, & Jeronimo Herrera) Offices: downtown Lancaster city. Together they are the Go Design Unit, a multidisciplinary design, branding, and advertising firm.

teamccloud (Jeff McCloud) Lives: Elizabethtown. Communications professional and family man.

shanellelee & ConnectLanc (Shanelle Lee) Lives: Ephrata. Part of the Nxtbook Media team.

jeepeesea (Greg Colton) Lives: downtown Lancaster city.

SirDsCatering (Meghan Fluharty) Location: New Cumberland, PA.  Social sales manager for Sir D’s Catering.

justincarroll (Justin Carroll) Lives: Lancaster. Founder of 3Circle Studio, interactive design and development.

regularsm (Sean McDee) Lives: Lititz. Production technician at LCBC.

AaronsBooks (Sam Dickinson) Location: Lititz. Owner of Lancaster County independent bookstore.

timmwenger & KidsAndCultures (Timm Wenger) Lives: Lancaster city. Co-founder of Kids and Cultures, a non-profit educational organization that introduces children to world cultures.

kentcourtney (Kent Courtney) Lives: Hanover, PA. Multimedia producer for ChoosePA.com.

mamafitz (Beth Anne) Lives: Hershey—but she grew up in Lancaster County, so we’ll let her count as a Lancastrian.

adamthemiller (Adam Miller) Lives: York—but works in Lancaster City as Flash/graphic designer at Nxtbook Media.

hearsmusic (Amanda Stauffer) Lives: Harrisburg—but she was originally a Lancastrian. IT guru.

danielklotz (that’s me)

I keep this page as up-to-date and useful as possible. If you are willing to let me include you in this list of Lancaster County Twitter users, or if you have additions or changes, please shoot me a message on Twitter. I do ask that your Twitter account is complete with bio, location and photo/avatar, and also that we are following each other so that we can direct message each other.