The LuLac Edition #1117, Mar. 11th, 2010

PHOTO INDEX: FORMER SENATOR RICK SANTORUM (FINALLY HE AND I HAVE SOMETHING IN COMMON, I TOO OWN A TEMPTATIONS SUIT, THE ONLY TYPE OF AIRLINE THAT WON'T SCREW YOU LOGO AND OUR 1966 LOGO.

THE FIRST VOLLEY

You may not think so but Rick Santorum is running for President. The guy can deny it up and down but in 2012 you’ll see a race development between Santorum and Mitt Romney. Romney would be the logical nominee because he finished second to John McCain and normally the entitlement pattern of the GOP would favor Mr. Mitt., now a best selling author. But there is a desperate vacuum in the top tier leadership of the national GOP. Chairman Michael Steele can hardly control elements of his own party let alone channel the energies of the tea party people. With Sarah Palin riding the celebrity wave, Santorum can be looked at as a serious contender. Santorum told influential Iowa evangelicals this week that he's made the journey from being a "pro-life fraud" to becoming a national anti-abortion leader, and he urged them to pour their energies into this year's election to reshape the nation's direction. Santorum spoke to the Iowa Christian Alliance, which plays a key role in the Iowa Republican precinct caucuses that traditionally launch the presidential nominating season. The speech to about 500 people marked his second swing through Iowa in recent months. In a speech heavy on religious themes, Santorum said the GOP can offer itself as a conservative alternative to President Barack Obama at what he called "a turning point in America." Santorum has been long known as an outspoken abortion-rights opponent. But on Tuesday night he said he started out as a young congressman who was leery about expressing his views on abortion, fearing political fallout. He noted that at one point he even endorsed then-Republican Sen. Arlen Specter, a fellow Pennsylvania lawmaker who supports abortion rights and has since switched to the Democratic Party. In the Senate, Santorum led an effort to ban a late-term procedure that opponents call partial-birth abortion. He told the Christian Alliance that was a turning point, and that his views hardened against abortion. Santorum lost his Senate seat in 2006 when he was defeated by anti-abortion Democrat Robert Casey Jr. Iowa voters are the first indicators of the election year. I think that is an undeserved place for a state that is not a microcosm of America. I think it is horrible that 90,000 voters decide the fate of a prospective Presidential campaign. These voters fancy themselves as political sophisticates. May I remind you that these are the same people who were taken in by a scam that promised thousands of Iowans millions by investing in a treatment plant that would convert pigeon waste into a viable energy product. If they bought that, they’ll definitely buy Santorum.

WHY FLYING SUCKS

My best friend from out of town traveled to the area this January to celebrate his mom’s 90th birthday. Despite his constant aggravation growing up, his mother managed to survive into her 9th decade. After celebrating the event, and seeing some of his local friends, neighbors and relatives, he went to New Jersey and then New York City on business. When it was time to return home he asked the Continental ticket agents in Newark if he could just go from Newark to his home city instead of driving back to Wilkes Barre to catch a flight to Newark (where he already was) and then proceed home. By flying from Newark he would have given the airline the opportunity to sell an empty seat from Wilkes Barre/ Scranton to Newark. Makes sense, right? Not to the airlines. So he had to get a cousin to drive him back to Wilkes Barre to fly to where he already was and then go home. Now these greedy bastards would sell him a one way flight but they wanted $600.00. This and for various and sundry reasons are why the airline industry is dying and while very few people fly only because they have to. Friendly skies and common sense, my ass.

WHY BANKING SUCKS

I know some people who are trying to buy a house. They have very little debt, two incomes and have a property picked out that they can afford. Their credit scores are in line and they have a fair down payment. Three times now Bank of America has changed the parameters of the loan. Every time they asked for something, the buyer has met the request. Yet the bank keeps changing the expectations and the rules. The man is employed by a small manufacturer in Old Forge. Been at the same job for 15 years. His wife has worked for the same company for 7 years. She works in Moosic. At Bank of America.

MELLOW POSTPONES

Senator Robert Mellow postponed his appearance on The state of Pennsylvania on WVIA TV last night. Because of an illness. I was going to attend the event but was relieved when the show was cancelled. While Mellow has a responsibility to his constituents, it was my fear that the appearance would be used by people with an ax to grind to steer the show away from the Senator’s farewell. While Bill Kelly is a competent, engaging and fair host, it was perhaps better the Senator declined the invitation until perhaps after the elections where his career would not be made an issue for any candidates. Those candidates should stand on their own accomplishments and faults, not Mr. Mellow’s. That all said, it would’ve been a hell of a show.

OBAMA ON HEALTH CARE

President Obama took his increasingly populist health care overhaul pitch to the political battleground state of Missouri turning up the heat on private health insurers in a speech. Obama said many of the changes would be paid for by cutting waste in health care, which he said is estimated to have cost taxpayers almost $100 billion last year. He likened the national debate about proposed changes to the current system to previous debates that swirled around the topic, including the passage of Medicare in 1965, and before. Obama rejected the suggestion from his opponents that the Democrats scrap the current plan and start over. "Let me tell you something," he said. "The insurance industry is not starting over. They just announced a 39 percent rate increase in California. And a rate increase of up to 60 percent right across the border in my own state of Illinois. Sixty percent in one year. That's the future if we fail to act." Obama said the changes in the Democrats' bill would result this year in people with pre-existing conditions being able to buy health insurance, would ban insurance companies from denying coverage to children, would ban the industry from dropping coverage when people get sick and would impose a government review on proposed increases in premiums. It would also create a marketplace where small businesses can get better deals for their employees by including them in large pools of people, he said. Finally, it would lower cost by cutting waste, he said, estimating the bill's price at $100 billion per year. President Obama is making a forceful case for Health Care Reform and is really trying to get those 51 votes for reconciliation. The Democratic party’s respective wings seem to not want to take a collective leap in order to get a health care bill passed. It is the challenge of President Obama to bridge both chambers in unified effort to get something passed.

GOP YOUNG UNS

The Luzerne County Republican Committee is forming a Young Republicans chapter to get people between the ages of 18 and 40 involved with the electoral process. Renita Fennick, executive director of the local GOP organization, said meetings are held on the second Monday of each month. The next one is scheduled for April 12 at the Woodlands Inn & Resort, Plains Township. The Young Republicans were a very viable organization in the 70s and 80s electing people like Frank Trinisewski and Jim Phillips at the County level and playing an instrumental role in the Reagan/Bush county wide victories of ’80, 84 and ’88.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT


1966

French President Charles De Gaulle states that French troops will be taken out of NATO and that all French NATO bases and HQ's must be closed within a year.......Bobby Hull of the Chicago Blackhawks sets the NHL single season scoring record against the New York Rangers, with his 51st goal.......Gemini 8 (David Scott, Neil Armstrong) docks with an Agena target vehicle……..In Pennsylvania, the borough of Centrailia better known later for its mine fires celebrates its 100th anniversary…….and in Lackawanna County Commissioners Melody and Zipay raise county taxes citing needs in infrastructure improvements and 44 years ago today the number 1 song in America and LuLac land was “California Dreamin' ” (what I do most every day) by the Mama’s and the Papas.