The LuLac Edition #1923, January 30th, 2012

In a happier time, former Lackawanna County Commissioners A.J. Munchak and Bob Cordaro.


A photo of one of the ethnic churches the Diocese destroyed to break even. While other churches were merged, St. John the Baptist Slovak Roman Catholic Church, got the wrecking ball.

TIME TO GO

Today most likely will be Judgement Day for former Lackawanna County Commissioners Bob Cordaro and A.J. Munchak. I worked briefly as a board operator for one of Bob Cordaro’s stations in the mid 90s. Saw him only once, got my check and learned a lot about NASCAR at that sports station. Years before, I attended a fundraiser for him when he ran for Congress in 1988 with a lawyer friend of mine. He gambled and lost to Joe McDade that year. I thought about that this morning and came to the realization that Bob Cordaro’s public life has been one big gamble. When he ran against an entrenched incumbent like oe Corcoran in 2003, it was a gamble. He and A.J. Munchak won by a mere 200 votes. I wondered after that win if Cordaro thought that he had this run of luck that would never run out. Cordaro and Munchak moved fast saying they were fixing things in Lackawanna County that had grown stagnant with 24 years of Democratic rule. Cordaro forged business relationships with dubious business characters like Al Hughes a Scranton funeral director and some engineer types from a Clarks Summit engineering firm. I think both men gambled that what they were doing was the way things got done in the County, or the way they needed to get things done or damn the torpedoes full speed ahead the way they wanted things to get done. Cordaro and Munchak said they never took money, the dubious business people who were never charged said they did. The people who counted, the jury overwhelming said Bob and A.J. were crooks. No one believed Cordaro was a cash only guy especially when they saw checks cashed with his name on them. And no one believed that A.J. Munchak gambled at the casino with his life savings. The roll of the dice was not kind to Cordaro and Munchak.
Over the weekend the newspaper released letters of support for the two from an NFL head coach, various friends and relatives, nieces and nephews, friends, co workers and even lovers. Judge Caputo most likely read them all. This morning in Federal Court the Judge will pronounce sentencing. This morning, the wild ride is really over. This morning, their luck, manufactured or providential according to whose story you believe, runs out.

GOOD ENEMIES-HORRIBLE AMERICANS

During the Bill Clinton Impeachment hearings, people marveled at Clinton’s luck in having good enemies in the Congress and right wing America. It appears Barack Obama has the same good fortune.
Kansas House Speaker Mike O’Neal is under fire after asking Republican House members to pray for President Barack Obama’s death. This “Christian” legislator, a person elected by American citizens has wished the President’s children to be fatherless. I’m not a fan of Obama, never have been. And last night, ironically as I was sitting in church, I wondered if there was a viable alternative in the GOP that if push came to shove, I could vote for in the general election. And just when I was thinking of the idea of finding an alternative, up pops this news story the next day. These religious right wingers are down right dangerous. And THEY ARE BAD FOR AMERICA. THESE ARE CHRISTIAN TREASONISTS. THESE ARE PEOPLE JESUS WOULD BE ASHAMED OF. Yet they live and worse yet, they breed. O’Neal made the request via an email he forwarded to GOP colleagues in the House. In an email sent in December, O’Neal asked his fellow Republicans to pray Psalm 109, which contains the following lines:
Let his days be few; and let another take his office.
Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.
The email has become the subject of a mini-media frenzy. Numerous major news outlets began reporting the details surrounding the disturbing prayer request on Friday.
The relevant verse from Psalm 109 is considered a prayer for vengeance, a prayer for the death of a leader. The most damning part of the prayer is lines 7-12:
'When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let his prayer become sin.
Let his days be few; and let another take his office.
Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.
Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places.
Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his labor.
Let there be none to extend mercy unto him: neither let there be any to favor his fatherless children.'O’Neal forwarded the prayer with his own message:
“At last — I can honestly voice a Biblical prayer for our president! Look it up — it is word for word! Let us all bow our heads and pray. Brothers and Sisters, can I get an AMEN? AMEN!!!!!!”
Please keep in mind this is not your run of the mill wacko that every little town has. This is not some drunk guy in a bar mouthing off. This man is an elected official of the Republican party in Kansas. He is an elected official of the Kansas Legislature. He is not some back bencher no one takes seriously. He is a member with power sanctioned by his political party, the Republicans. Just when you even think about voting for a Republican, shit like this washes ashore.
And my response to this waste of sperm and egg is simply this: If you are a Christian………….bring me the atheists!

DIOCESE FLUSH

The Times Leader reports that the Diocese of Scranton rebounded pretty well financially by taking drastic measures like closing schools and churches. A friend of mine told me that the Diocese systematically closed ethnic churches. I wasn’t sure that was entirely true but here it is in black and white. From the Times Leader: Martino determined that Church Law allowed the diocese to take about 42 percent of the assets from a closed “ethnic” parish built to serve immigrants of a specific ethnicity when that parish merged with a “territorial” parish built to serve a specific area.
I called the aforementioned friend and related the article to him. A fellow former parishioner at St. John the Baptist and class mate at the school, he said, “If they were going to merge ethnic parishes, then why did they tear some of them down for parking lots”? Good question. I hope they sleep well at night with their financial security.