The LuLac Edition #1225, July 1st, 2010

PHOTO INDEX: SENATOR BEN "CLOWN" NELSON, THE NEW MOTTO FOR THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE LEGISLATURE AND OUR 1966 LOGO.

A FOOL'S FOOL

The other day I took Republicans in the Senate to task for holding up the extension to unemployment compensation and the jobs bill. Last night a conservative Democrat from Nebraska joined with the GOP naysayers in denying the extension to unemployed Americans. See, Ben Nelson is from Nebraska and he most likely confuses the cattle out there with real live working human beings. (I’ve heard it said that the good Senator looks longingly at the cattle but not for the steaks!) Nelson said he is worried about the deficit, the future, our grandchildren shouldering the debt. Blah, blah, blah. Ben Nelson should have the entire Democratic party establishment on his insignificant ass. If he chooses to run, he should have a primary opponent who will fight and defeat him. Good Democrat? By one vote cloture wasn’t obtained by the Senate because of this obstructionist pantywaist that has no idea what real Americans have to go through when they collect unemployment.
When I was collecting unemployment I got $572.00 every two weeks. (I had taxes taken out). I paid for my health care, (subsidized but that’s gone now for unemployed Americans) the cable and phone bill, my Amex bill which I used only for gas and groceries on a contributory basis. If I didn’t have the house paid for and Mrs. LuLac’s salary, I’d be in deep trouble. If I had kids, it would have been horrible. See, freaks like Ben Nelson don’t understand the real America. They have been sheltered and pampered and made to believe that they are demi gods. Hardly. Mr. Ben Nelson is a coward who wouldn’t understand principles if an elephant crapped them all over his head. Ben Nelson is no friend of working people and to call him a Democrat is an insult to FDR, JFK, LBJ, HHH and others who made it possible for this “little man” to win an election in the great Plains. Unlike Mr. Nelson, the two Republican Senators from Maine who voted for the bill have more balls than he does.

THE STATE BUDGET

The jokers in Harrisburg passed a budget on time this year but it is a budget of pain. They cut human services and libraries. But they kept the school districts fat and happy as well as the overpaid and under worked school teachers. Here’s my question, if they poured so much money into Education, why do my school district taxes keep going up?
And just where the hell did the Legislature cut their expenses. Cut out per diems? Nope. Cut out car allowances? Nope. Cut out staffing? Nope. Cut their size? Nope. Cut their salary? Nope. But yet they cut recreation programs for children, literacy programs, social programs and funding to libraries. Let’s do some comparisons between school districts (all hail Education!!) and Libraries.
School districts are open for 180 days a year from 7am to 3pm.
Libraries are open 360 days a year from 9am to 9pm.
School districts have multi million dollars budgets.
Libraries have budgets that range from $200,000 a year to maybe 5 million a year in big cities.
School districts have unions that basically guarantee any employee (brilliant educator or flunky) the same amount of money.
Libraries have employees that go through annual reviews and customer care trainings.
If the libraries are the university of the people, the school districts should be the colleges of the future. But they are not. They are not preparing our kids for anything compelling or competitive in the future. Stats bear that out. So why cut libraries who are part of the Education Department and perform with less and reward bloated school districts that are failing?

And let's talk salaries, a Library Professional required to have a Masters gets about $30,000 a year. A school teacher with a mere BA gets $38,000. A State Legislator, whether he be butcher, baker or candlemaker gets over $70,000 a year! I like all of the Representatives that serve us in Luzerne and Lackawanna County. They are good people. And all of them, except for Ken Smith deserve to be there to a point. They are not bad people, merely ineffective. But the Northeast Caucus has said nothing about these cuts in terms of warning and even fighting against them. If there was a comment made to the press or a resolution to opposition by one of our elected reps in LuLac land before this budget went down, tell me. And I’ll print it here. But if I were the local GOP, I’d be all over the fact that while the Legislators cut very little out of their stashes and slush funds, they had no problem cutting aid to the already struggling entities that serve the common man and woman.

FRANK SCAVO COMMENTS

22nd District candidate Frank Scavo made this comment about the State Budget: "With the $28 billion dollar Pennsylvania State budget for 2010 now headed Governor Rendell's desk for signing, Pennsylvania once again approves the practice of deficit spending and driving up state debt. The continued ignorance of the $4 billion dollar pension crisis and it's deliberate absence is both a travesty and an expensive broken promise that will cause punishing property tax rates for working families and seniors. It also leaves teachers and state workers with an unfunded pension liability again. We are continuing to amass debt just like the federal government and ignore critical reforms of the pension, unemployment and prison systems. This new budget also keeps Pennsylvania with the highest corporate tax rates in the nation, which creates no opportunity for job growth again. "

JIM O’MEARA COMMENTS

Jim O’Meara who is running for the State House in the 121st District made this comment about the budget: For the first time in years, Pennsylvania has a budget “on time.” But is this budget realistic? It relies, for example, on $850 million in unapproved federal “stimulus money.” If Washington finally gets “budget religion” and doesn’t pony up that $850 million, what happens next? What programs suffer? Meanwhile, the overall expense of the State Legislature is increasing by $1.3 million. The folks I’m meeting each day are going to find that awful hard to swallow. The folks I’m meeting are cutting back anywhere they can. Sometimes they cut back where they shouldn’t. They skip doctor visits or let their prescriptions lapse. They can’t budget on play money, like Harrisburg does. Many of our citizens fall farther behind while the Legislature gets fatter. The budget should have been crafted with painful cuts in the Legislature’s expenses. An opportunity to lead by example has been lost.

TARAH TOOHIL ON THE BUDGET

Tarah Toohil is running against Todd Eachus in the Hazleton Area. Here’s her comments: Toohil, candidate for state Representative, issued the following statement after legislative leaders reached a tentative deal on a $28
billion state budget that hinges on passing a severance tax on natural gas extracted from the Marcellus Shale:
"It is irresponsible for our legislature to count on a new tax in order to pass the budget. We need to stimulate the economy and createjobs. Passing a budget based upon the severance tax means the state will spend the money before it even hits the bank, the same as it didwhen it approved slots, casinos and table games. "The Hazleton area has not seen property tax relief from table games and there are no guarantees that the Hazleton area would see anybenefit from the severance tax. This tax will be directed to bailout bankrupt state programs and pay down years of overspending, leavingempty handed the municipalities and townships whose roads, creeks and ways of life are being altered by the drilling boom. "This tax and spend mentality signifies how Representative Eachus and Governor Rendell have misguided the state of Pennsylvania into debtand economic downturn. Forcing our state budget to rely upon a tax that is not yet in existence is the equivalent of putting the2010-2011 budget on a credit card -- it only perpetuates the problem and leaves an unsavory legacy of debt and decaying infrastructure forour children, grandchildren and generations beyond. "No matter whether you are opposed to the developing Marcellus Shale industry or in support of it, passing a budget based upon a new tax isan unwise double-edged sword. With a tax, the state immediately becomes beholden to the drilling industry and could lead to thesacrifice of regulation and environmental protection. With a tax, the industry might be less inclined to do business in our state and couldeventually take money out of the consumer's and taxpayer's pocket. "This new tax proposal is another example of legislators seeing dollars and spending dollars in the blink of an eye, before thetaxpayers ever see them.
"Our people demand real leadership not quick fixes that tack momentary budget solutions to lady luck or the end of anatural gas pipeline. Our people deserve better."

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT


1966

North Vietnam declares general mobilization...President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Freedom of Information Act, which goes into effect the following year………………….. In Pennsylvania Governor Scranton tours the state touting the accomplishments of his administration. It is billed as a non political tour….The Stegmaier Brewing Company sponsors fireworks in Wilkes Barre city during the Fourth of July weekend and George W. Bierly, an educator at Penn State urges local businesses to hire members of the 1966 graduating class instead of having them leave the area….and 44 years ago the number1 song in LuLac land and America was “Green Grass” by Gary Lewis and the Playboys, their last number 1 hit.