The LuLac Edition #197, April 12th, 2007

PHOTO INDEX: PRESIDENTS THOMAS JEFFERSON (WHO WAS BORN ON APRIL 13TH) AND FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT (WHO DIED ON APRIL 12TH.)




A PRESIDENT AT WAR



Franklin D. Roosevelt died on this day in 1945. Roosevelt was the consummate war time President. FDR had his hands on every strategic battle, every aspect of the war, both economic and social and knew the nitty gritty details down to the last kernel and nugget of information. He build relationships with Churchill and even danced with the devil in the person of Joseph Stalin. He became acquainted with his future Vice President Harry Truman because during the war years the bespectacled Senator from Missouri was watching every penny the military spent like a mafia accountant on Super Bowl Sunday. FDR included his 1940 GOP foe in every discussion and asked his input on all things great and small.
Contrast FDR’s handling of the war with President Bush’s activity with the Iraq War. There have been multiple strategies, no straight forward reason why we went there, a military that has to resort to giving bonuses for the troops to stay and the let down of services for wounded returning troops. Now we’re told the President wants to appoint a War Czar to take over the administration of the conflict. At least it is an action by President Bush but it might be too little too late. On this day of FDR’s death, it is jolting to see the comparisons between the two war time Presidents.



LULAC COUNCIL FORUM



"When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty." Thomas Jefferson.
Just a reminder, the LuLac Political Forum meeting is set for Sunday May 6th, 430pm at Genetti’s in Downtown Wilkes Barre. We’ve gotten responses from a good amount of candidates. Here’s a copy of the letter we sent to the candidates:

Dear Council Candidate:
You are cordially invited to attend the LuLac Political Letter’s City Council Forum, Sunday May 6th from 4:30PM to 7PM at Genetti’s Best Western Imperial Ballroom in Wilkes Barre. The LuLac Political Letter will be closing in on its first year anniversary and what better way to commemorate that than with a lively exchange of ideas between the council candidates and the general public. Here are the ground rules:
A. Candidates will be seated by district at individual tables at the front of the room.
B. Each Council candidate will be given 5 minutes maximum to present their credentials and plans for the city. After every candidate has made their presentations, questions will be asked from the audience to any candidate. To save time, it will be one question per audience member. What we need from you:
1. A confirmation of your availability by April 30th. You can respond by calling 570-821-6152 leaving a voice mail or by e mail to yonkstur@ptd.net or yonkstur@aol.com.
2. By that date, April 30th, we will also need a typed 1 minute or less introduction of the candidate outlining his or her experience, work history, hobbies, family, whatever. You can send this to: 253 North Main Street, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18702 in care of David Yonki or e mail to the addresses listed above. If we don’t receive an introduction from a candidate, we will just introduce them cold by name and district.
This is the first time to my knowledge that a City Council Candidates Forum has ever been tried. We hope you’ll participate for the interested voting public and bring forth your ideas and concerns. Our moderator for the afternoon will be WILK’s Sue Henry.
In the meantime, if any candidate has a JPEG photo and any press releases, we will be more than happy to post them on our site prior to the May primary election. You can send them to my e mail addresses: yonkstur@ptd.net or yonkstur@aol.com. Or check out my site address at http://lulacpoliticaletter.blogspot.com/.
Thank you in advance for your service in this important city-wide election.

Sincerely,
David S. Yonki –
LuLac Political Letter



IMUS DONE


Well CBS fired Don Imus. And I have mixed feelings. First off, what Imus said was wrong. Inexcusable. But he apologized immediately, he didn’t put out spin on what he meant and went to the young women he offended and asked forgiveness.
It seems to me that Imus was caught up in a hypocritical corporate world that he easily embraced as a schizophrenic that had him as half rebel, half glad hander. When Imus made the statement, it was in reaction to one of his gang. Sometimes the gang was more crude than the I man and in this incident they did not serve him well.
I’m bothered by three things,
1. That we can forgive a Rose O’Donnell for saying the World Trade Center bombing was an “inside job” and let Ann Coulter go on after her crazy, insensitive statements. We can’t forgive Imus?
2. CBS owns MTV. They, as a corporation are outraged by Imus’s comments when the fare on the music channel is all about gang banging, killing and forgive me, “ho’s”. CBS taking the high ground in this matter is like me preaching against the evils of girl watching. In short, CBS has lost their credibility as a company if they don’t do something about the violent and degrading rap videos directed toward young people. Firing Imus was easy, he was a tired old shoe who’s act has worn thin. And when the advertisers went off the reservation, that was all the push the company needed. But don’t tell us its about integrity.
3. The moral judges of this drama were Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. Jackson was a heroic civil rights figure marching with Dr. King (even though he did whip his shirt off when King got shot to blot it with blood for a good photo op) and paved the way for a run for President by Barack Obama and other minority candidates. But he did refer to Jews as “hymies” and has had dubious business dealings. Sharpton has much baggage of his own too and has never seemed to be the successor to a Dr. King but more like a Reverend Ike. I’d feel better if there were other black leaders with less dubious pasts passing judgement.
So, I Man is gone. But maybe something can be learned. As Bernard Meltzer once said, “When you forgive, you in no way change the past -- but you sure do change the future.” Maybe ikf we can forgive, we’ll learn.