The LuLac Edition #54, Sept. 03, 2006

PICTURE INDEX: The Kennedy and Connally entourage on November 22nd, 1963, Labor Leader Samuel Gompers,Senator Rick Santorum and State Treasurer Robert Casey as seen on Meet The Press and State Representative Phyllis Mundy of Kingston.



CASEY AND SANTORUM ON MEET THE PRESS.......The Casey/Santorum debate took place Sunday on Meet the Press and it was a barnburner. Tim Russert, that cuddly teddy bear type Buffalo Bills fan came out swinging on the issue of Iraq. Pulling up quotes from Casey's past statements, it looked like he was trying to box Casey into a John Kerry like "I voted for the war, then against it" but the Democrat did not bite. Santorum in the meantime defended the President, the war and gave the GOP line that Iraq housed terrosits even before 911.
Both candidates were poised but Santorum seemed to get more agitated when he started to defend his foreign policy votes. In terms of style, Santorum seemed more animated but you needed to listen to what he was saying to realize that a few of his positions were hard to defend. Santorum though made his arguements with passion and conviction.
Casey on the other engaged Santorum right off in the debate turning away from Russert and asking questions directly to the Senator. Casey was more soft spoken than Santorum but seemed to gain on style points because he didn't seem to get rattled. Casey laid out a few plans to balance the budget and Santorum accused him of quoting from the Democratic playbook. Undaunted, Casey continued making his points which kept him on message.
Casey and Santorum really got into verbal fisticuffs when they began to talk about the payraise issue in Harrisburg. Santorum felt Casey should have done more to stop it while Casey countered that Santorum took payraises as a Congressman and Senator when he pledged (Santorum in past campaigns) not to do so. Casey calmly rebutted Santorum's charges and from my impression alone, it seemed that the more annoyed Santorum got, the shriller he sounded.
Before this debate, the common knowledge was that Santorum was a superior debater and Casey was a lackluster campaigner. This debate proved otherwise, that Casey could calmy hold his own while Santorum had the potential to be shaken. Partisans in this debate will tell you their guy won. I am a Casey supporter but believe Santorum will somehow pull this election off. That said, to be fair, I'd have to give this debate the edge to Casey because he overcame the perception that Santorum was a superior debater. And that has nothing to do with my support of Casey. It's just how it looked to me.
There will be more ddebates in this race. Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta and city Council President Joe Yanuzzi have called for a debate in Hazleton. Whether that happpens is a matter of conjecture at this point.
Santorum wore a red tie (red state guy) Casey a blue one (blue state guy), both were very telegenic and represented the state well even though the points of view were opposite each other. The one color ommitted was that of Green, for the Green Party, which in my opinion is just as well.
Statewide, here are the latest comments about the debate: Patriot News reporter, Brett Lieberman, who was in the studio today wrote: "Yet the early consensus is that, if there was a winner of this morning's debate, it was Casey." The headline of a story by Christopher Lilienthal from the Capitolwire news service read: "Santorum lauds Rumsfeld in debate, Casey calls for his firing". As the campaign heats up.........expect more debates from Casey and Santorum who did in fact shake hands at the end.


FORMER TEXAS FIRST LADY DIES....... Nellie Connally, the former Texas first lady who was riding in President Kennedy's limousine when he was assassinated, has died, a family friend said Saturday. The 87-year-old was the last living person who had been part of that fateful Dallas drive.
Connally had said the most enduring image she had of the Nov. 22, 1963, assassination was of a mixture of blood and roses.
As the limousine carrying the Connallys and the Kennedys wound its way through the friendly crowd in downtown Dallas, Nellie Connally turned to President Kennedy, who was in a seat behind her, and said, "Mr. President, you can't say Dallas doesn't love you."
Almost immediately, she heard the first of what she later concluded were three gunshots in quick succession. Connally slumped after the second shot, and, "I never looked back again. I was just trying to take care of him," she said. Anniversaries and inevitable media interviews followed the Connallys for decades to come.
Private business ventures after 1980 were less successful than John Connally's career as a politician and dealmaking Houston lawyer. An oil company in which he invested got into trouble, and $200 million worth of real estate projects went sour.
He filed for reorganization of his personal finances under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy code and for liquidation, under Chapter 7, of the Barnes/Connally Partnership, the Austin-based real estate venture that he founded with former Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes.
The auction paid only a fraction of the $93 million in debts Connally listed with the bankruptcy court in Austin.
Nellie Connally celebrated her 80th birthday with fellow breast cancer survivors at a ceremony in the Nellie B. Connally Breast Center at Anderson hospital in Houston. It had been 10 years since overcoming breast cancer.

MUNDY'S RECORD................In one edition of the LuLac Letter, we ran a letter critical of State Representative Phyllis Mundy's tenure in Harrisburg. To be fair and balanced, (we ain't FOX!!!) here is a recap of some of her accomplishments since taking office in 1991.
Authored innovative legislation to provide a 20 % discount on medical malpractice premiums to physicians and health care facilities that implement a total quality management system. The concept has attracted national attention.
Instrumental in the Public Utility Commission's decision to deny the PPL Corporation their request to add a distribution systems improvement surcharge to customer's monthly electric bills. Through successful House floor debates, stopped a measure that would have added this same surcharge to natural gas bills.
Achieved a victory in 2005 when Insurance Commissioner Koken placed a cap on the Blues' surplus. As a result of Koken's decision, Blue Cross of Northeastern PA will not be allowed to include a "risk and contingency factor" in future rate increase requests, i.e., they will not be allowed to build further surplus as subscriber expense. The decision also requires that if a Blues' surplus exceeds the cap, the Blues will have to spend down the excess surplus.
Faced with the impending closure of the local crime lab, worked with the county District Attorney, colleagues in the Northeast Democratic Delegation, Sen. Ray Musto and local law enforcement to ensure the lab remained open, as well as securing funds to upgrade equipment and increase staff to reduce the backlog.
Worked with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to replace the 8th Street Bridge and make numerous traffic improvements at dangerous intersections throughout the 120th Legislative District.
Gathered representatives from area free medical clinics together to help them meet the needs of the underinsured and uninsured that they serve. Working with the local Commission on Economic Opportunity and Wilkes College, received a grant for prescription services.
Worked with the county District Attorney's office and the state Attorney General's office to close down a drug house on Breese Street in Wyoming.
Worked with Kingston residents to establish a neighborhood crime watch.
Worked with Luzerne County and volunteers from the community to pick up and haul seven truckloads of scrap tires out of a wooded area in Wyoming. The tires were recycled.
District office staff has helped literally thousands of individuals with problems, large and small over the years. When people have a problem and don't know where to turn, they know they have a friendly helpful resource in Mundy's district office, which will provide assistance or direct them to the resource that can.
Authored legislation creating the Ounce of Prevention Initiative, which would lead to improving parenting and help children reach their full potential. The initiative would provide long-term savings in both public and private health care costs and help to avoid future social problems.
Passed legislation to reduce the likelihood of illegal dumping of waste tires and help ensure the proper storage, disposal and reuse of scrap tires. Four pieces of legislation that Rep. Mundy authored have become law.
Mundy faces GOP committeeman John Cordaro in the November election in a district that comprises the West side communities as well as parts of the Back Mountain.

LABOR DAY HISTORY..............The History of Labor Day
Labor Day: How it Came About; What it Means
"Labor Day differs in every essential way from the other holidays of the year in any country," said Samuel Gompers, founder and longtime president of the American Federation of Labor. "All other holidays are in a more or less degree connected with conflicts and battles of man's prowess over man, of strife and discord for greed and power, of glories achieved by one nation over another. Labor Day...is devoted to no man, living or dead, to no sect, race, or nation."
Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.
Founder of Labor Day
More than 100 years after the first Labor Day observance, there is still some doubt as to who first proposed the holiday for workers.
Some records show that Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a cofounder of the American Federation of Labor, was first in suggesting a day to honor those "who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold."
But Peter McGuire's place in Labor Day history has not gone unchallenged. Many believe that Matthew Maguire, a machinist, not Peter McGuire, founded the holiday. Recent research seems to support the contention that Matthew Maguire, later the secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists in Paterson, N.J., proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York. What is clear is that the Central Labor Union adopted a Labor Day proposal and appointed a committee to plan a demonstration and picnic.
The First Labor Day
The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday just a year later, on September 5, 1883.
In 1884 the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday, as originally proposed, and the Central Labor Union urged similar organizations in other cities to follow the example of New York and celebrate a "workingmen's holiday" on that date. The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations, and in 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country.
Labor Day Legislation
Through the years the nation gave increasing emphasis to Labor Day. The first governmental recognition came through municipal ordinances passed during 1885 and 1886. From them developed the movement to secure state legislation. The first state bill was introduced into the New York legislature, but the first to become law was passed by Oregon on February 21, 1887. During the year four more states — Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York — created the Labor Day holiday by legislative enactment. By the end of the decade Connecticut, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania had followed suit. By 1894, 23 other states had adopted the holiday in honor of workers, and on June 28 of that year, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories.
A Nationwide Holiday
The form that the observance and celebration of Labor Day should take were outlined in the first proposal of the holiday — a street parade to exhibit to the public "the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations" of the community, followed by a festival for the recreation and amusement of the workers and their families. This became the pattern for the celebrations of Labor Day. Speeches by prominent men and women were introduced later, as more emphasis was placed upon the economic and civic significance of the holiday. Still later, by a resolution of the American Federation of Labor convention of 1909, the Sunday preceding Labor Day was adopted as Labor Sunday and dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of the labor movement.
The character of the Labor Day celebration has undergone a change in recent years, especially in large industrial centers where mass displays and huge parades have proved a problem. This change, however, is more a shift in emphasis and medium of expression. Labor Day addresses by leading union officials, industrialists, educators, clerics and government officials are given wide coverage in newspapers, radio, and television.
The vital force of labor added materially to the highest standard of living and the greatest production the world has ever known and has brought us closer to the realization of our traditional ideals of economic and political democracy. It is appropriate, therefore, that the nation pay tribute on Labor Day to the creator of so much of the nation's strength, freedom, and leadership — the American worker.

CHALLENGER ACCEPTS DEBATE INVITE.....Dr. Joseph Leonardi, Republican Nominee for the U.S. House of Representatives PA-11, has accepted an invitation from The League of Women Voters of Lackawanna County to participate in a debate scheduled for Thursday, October 26, 2006.

OLDIES QUIZ............
01. After the Lone Ranger saved the day and rode off into the sunset, the grateful citizens would ask, "Who was that masked man?" Invariably, someone would answer, "I don't know, but he left this behind." What did he leave behind?____________
02. When the Beatles first came to the U.S. in early 1964, we all watched them on The __________________ Show.
03. "Get your kicks, ___________________."
04. "The story you are about to see if true. The names have been changed___________________."
05. "In the jungle, the mighty jungle, ________________."
06. After the Twist, The Mashed Potato, and the Watusi, we "danced" under a stick that was lowered as low as we could go in a dance called the "_____________."
07. "N_E_S_T_L_E_S", Nestle's makes the very best _______________."
08. Satchmo was America's "Ambassador of Goodwill." Our parents shared this great jazz trumpet player with us. His name was _________________.
09. What takes a licking and keeps on ticking? _______________
10. Red Skelton's hobo character was named __________________ and Red always ended his television show by saying, "Good Night, and "_______________".
11. Some Americans who protested the Vietnam War did so by burning their____________.
12. The cute little car with the engine in the back and the trunk in the front was called the VW. What other names did it go by? ____________ & _______________.
13. In 1971, singer Don MacLean sang a song about, "the day the music died." This was a tribute to ___________________.
14. We can remember the first satellite placed into orbit. The Russians did it. It was called ________________.
15. One of the big fads of the late 50's and 60's was a large plastic ring that we twirled around our waist. It was called the ________________.

ANSWERS LATER ON THIS WEEK.