Thursday, November 04, 2010

The LuLac Edition #1361, Nov. 4th, 2010





PHOTO INDEX: "AFTERMATH" ONE OF THE ROLLING STONES' BIGGEST ALBUMS OF THE 60s IS A FITTING ADDITION TO THE PHOTO INDEX AS WE CONTINUE OUR ELECTION WRAP UP, GOVERNOR RAYMOND SHAFFER (CIRCA 1966), AN AD FOR LOCAL TV NEWS COVERAGE OF ELECTION NIGHT AND OUR 1966 LOGO. (CLICK TO ENLARGE PHOTO).

THE STATE OF UNIFORMITY

Pennsylvania has gone from being a blue state to a red state overnight. We didn’t even visit purple. The State government now is uniform in its order of party. The GOP has the Governorship, the House and Senate. That means the GOP has to do a few things like govern. Let’s see how serious they are about cutting down the Legislature. Let’s see if they do anything to ease the tax burden on property owners. All I’ve heard is how they are going to improve the business climate. And that’s a good thing. But let’s see how this three tier branch of running how lives impacts on the middle class. The GOP has a tall order to fill in the coming years. Let’s hope when they balance a budget and reduce the deficit in the state, they don’t do it on the backs of the property owners. Consumption tax anyone?

2010 AND BEYOND

Everyone is wondering about 2012 and who will succeed Lou Barletta and Tom Marino after they get one term under their belt. Never mind the individual, you should be worrying about whether there will be a 10th or 11th district as we know it today. With the GOP in power and the population of the state dwindling, there might be a reapportionment or gerrymandering going on. The 11th could very well be merged with Tim Holden’s 17th and the 10th might be merged with a distract northwest of it. Keep your eye on the decisions coming out of Harrisburg for this decade.

DEPARTING SENIORS

I just can’t understand how many seniors departed the Democratic party in this election. I mean do they actually think that they are going to get a better deal from the GOP? The same party that fought the formation of Social Security., the same party that tried to privatize it in the Bush years, the same party that opposed Medicare. Talk about shooting themselves in the foot. Who knows, maybe some of those oldsters who turned to the GOP really like dog food for lunch.

JOE IN LINE

When Lou Barletta goes to Washington, Council President Joe Yannuzzi will become Mayor. Yannuzzi was by Barletta’s side during the entire immigration imbroglio. Residents of Hazleton are wondering how Yanuzzi will govern once he steps into the job and out of Barletta's big shadow. We wish him luck.

DEM BRIGHT SPOTS

There were some bright spots for the Dems this election season. Jerry Brown winning in California as Governor, the retention of Michael Bennett as the Senator from Colorado and the election of Andrew Cuomo as Governor of New York. Brown overcame the money of Meg Whitman to win a new tenure in the Golden State. Mike Bennett, not a very charismatic fellow nonetheless beat Ken Buck who made some pretty intriguing statements on the trail like, “vote for me, I don’t wear heels”. Buck made it very close though. And in New York Cuomo the son of the three term Governor in the 80s and 90s, Mario Cuomo needs to pick up the pieces of the Spitzer-Patterson regime. Andy, if you get a girlfriend, either for play or pay, make sure she’s discreet.

COMPETING VIDEOS

This campaign was punctuated by a number of videos and TV spots that were powerful in their presentation and message. Here are two of them.


TODD’S SILENCE

Todd Eachus was defeated on Tuesday night by Tara Toohill in the 116th district. He conceded by interview. He said her conduct in the campaign doesn’t warrant a concession phone call from him. He has been incommunicado since Tuesday night.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT



2012 PREVIEW

There is a take off of the recent elections of the great baseball poem "Casey At the Bat". Check out this video and see who is on the mound.


1966

Former
Massachusetts Attorney General Edward Brooke becomes the first African American elected to the United States Senate since Reconstruction.......Ronald Reagan, is elected Governor of California defeating Pat Brown, the father of recently elected Governor Jerry Brown....…….in Illinois Charles Percy defeats Paul Douglas for the U.S. Senate and in Minnesota Attorney General Walter Mondale is elected to the U.S. Senate....John Lennon meets Yoko On at the Indica Gallery……… In Pennsylvania Raymond Shafer becomes Governor winning by over 350,000 votes over Democrat Milton Shapp. Raymond Broderick is elected Lt. Governor…in statewide Congressional races the big winners were Joe McDade in the 10th, Dan Flood in the 11th and Richard Schweiker in the 13th. Schweiker was talked out of running for Governor and there was speculation even on Election Night that he would run for Senate in 1968…..in Luzerne County William Bachman of Foster Twp., a Democrat won in the First District (now the 116th), Stanley Meholchick in the second (now the 117th) James Musto in the Third (now the 118th) Fred Shupnik in the Fourth (now the 119tth) in the Fifth, (now the 120th, Frank O’Connell a Kingston Councilman was the lone Republican winning his race, and in the 6th (now the 121st) Bernard O’Brien won another term as State Representative. In Lackawanna County, Cyril Moran , Mike Needhem and John Wansac were retained for their seats. In the State Senate races, Arthur Piasecki, a bar owner and grocery store manager defeated Democratic favorite Jim Haggerty for Bob Casey’s old Senate seat and in Luzerne County Martin L. Murray bested Hazleton broadcast pioneer Victor Diehm (owner of WAZL and WVCD radio for election to the State Senate,,,T. Newell Wood returned to the Senate after besting Harold Flack in the primary and cruising to victory over Labor Leader Harold Coslett in the 20th Senatorial districyt….The Shapp/Staisey team won both Luzerne and Lackawanna Counties by margins of about 10,000 over the team of Shaffer and Broderick….in Hazleton City a city Manager plan was voted down narrowly but in Wilkes Barre city by a margin of 3 to 1, Home Rule/City Manager form of Government won big and 44 years ago today the number one song in LuLac land and America was "Winchester Cathedral" by the New Vaudeville Band proving everyone wasn't rocking in '66.


7 Comments:

At 6:19 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Todd Eachus i bet we will hear more about him

 
At 6:38 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

A greater percentage of Republicans than democrats in the 60's voted to pass medicare. I would hate for facts to enter into your reasoning.

 
At 8:16 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Eachus ... a real class act.

 
At 11:19 AM, Blogger McGruff said...

Yonk, you must be listening to Ed Mitchell too much. The truth about Social Security. Only 15 out of 100 Republicans voted against the Social Security Act of 1935. http://www.ssa.gov/history/tally.html The same amount of Democrats voted against it as well. Likewise 70 Republicans supported the Medicare Act of 1965 although 68 opposed it. But 48 Democrats also opposed it. http://www.ssa.gov/history/tally65.html Mitchell grossly exaggerated the partisan split.
Social Security Privatization is a Democratic scare tactic. Taking 4%of your total contribution and putting it into government securities as Lou Barletta supported is NOT privatizing the entire system. Nor is it privatization at all when you invest in government securities. Ed Mitchell's commericials that the money was going into the stock market was a bold face lie. It was Paul Kanjorski who voted against Medicare Part D along with 214 other Democrats on June 27, 2003. The act only passed by one vote: 216-215. http://www.govtrack.us/congress/vote.xpd?vote=h2003-332
Seniors know that noboby is truly going to mess with their Social Security. It was a political tactic used by the Dems that finally met its proper demise.
Bill Clinton takes his own bows for reducing deficits and creating surpluses. In reality he did with Republicans controlling both the House and the Senate for most of his terms. http://uspolitics.about.com/od/usgovernment/l/bl_party_division_2.htm
I know that Reagan had Democratic control of the chambers during his term but unlike Obama he knew the master of compromise and collaboration. Just wanted to post this so I could set the record straight. Take care and great job on Hazleton TV.

 
At 9:33 PM, Blogger PoorRichard said...

4% is a start! Just imagine if you were one of the lucky brokers on Wall Street and you got your hands on 4% of every dollar saved for retirement ... Now that's a big F***ing deal! Make no mistake that 4% was only the beginning and if the Republicans had their way, the entire program would be privatized and Medicare would be a thing of the past. Tell, why do you people insist on fighting to protect the very wealthy? Why would you take from yourself and give to the top 5% who control the vast majority of our nation's wealth. Are you people that stupid or are they that mesmerizing?

 
At 10:17 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

David, you looked good on TV. And folks, I have to tell you that he took Shapp's defeat very, very hard. He was still talking about it in 1970 when Shapp won!!!!
YOUR KOMOTION DATE FROM DURYEA

 
At 6:02 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

poor richard, what ever happened to an American where we had individuals taking care of themselves. Soc. Security is NOT an investment, it is basically a Ponzi scheme. Those that come into it later, pay those who were in it before.
I honestly don't have an issue with soc. sec's. premise, but it isn't an investment. But call it what it is: It is older people being given money from younger people who are working. It is older people being given a free ride at the expense of people who not only have to provide for themselves and their families but for people being whose lifespan is artificially increased to to big pharma and medicare

 

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