The LuLac Edition #2064, May 24th, 2012

The Vice President and chief campaigner, Joe Biden. 

WHAT BIDEN MEANS 

Vice President Joe Biden has been fighting the good fight against the Republican party. Even though the Vice President angered some Democrats by pushing the President into a declaration of his support for same sex marriages, Biden is going to be a potent weapon on the campaign trail. Biden would do well if he defended the Obama stimulus package and not run away from it like other Democrats have been the last three years. The stimulus did the following: 
1. Save jobs in the public sector that were going to be eliminated by the economic collapse. Teachers, police and firemen benefited from this.
2. The stimulus package enabled those unemployed to get a stipend for their health insurance premiums on Cobra. That was money put back into business. 
3. New construction projects like roads and other infrastructure projects that were stalled during the Bush administration because we were rebuilding roads and schools in Iraq while ours were going to hell. Without the stimulus, we’d be in worse shape than during the Great Depression. 

McCONNELL’S SILLINESS 

I heard Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell today on the TV and was incredulous with what he was saying. McConnell said that while Jimmy Carter was an incompetent President, Barack Obama was a dangerous one. Carter may have had his faults (one of which was acting like he was/is, a Christian.) If he were more ruthless and used his majorities in the House and Senate, he might have been more successful. But it was McConnell and the Republicans, who after day one decided that a black man was fine for one term but was never, ever going to get another. McConnell opposed the health care bill which means he and the GOP opposed waivers on pre existing conditions, an 80% cap on Insurance industry overhead as well as having youngsters without jobs being able to stay on their parents health plan. McConnell and the GOP also opposed the jobs bill and were willing participants in the debt ceiling debacle of last summer which caused our credit rating to plummet. So just who the hell is the most dangerous for America? McConnell and his spineless, gutless, solution less Republicans or President Obama? 

LAWTON’S LANDMINES 

Robert Lawton, the Luzerne County Manager told the County Council the other night something that they already know: the finances of the County are in a very precarious position. I mean what did you expect from a county that had 67 separate checking accounts? Lawton told the Council that cuts will be coming and that too, should not be a shocker to anyone. Here’s why: 
1. The pitiful tax increase did nothing to help build up a surplus for the beleaguered county. The tax crazies went out of their way to threaten to hang the people who wanted more of an increase. 
2. The previous budget directors under the Skrepenak/Vonderheid administration were running the office like a frat house. (And it kills me that some of them got rewarded with better jobs!) It was until Tom Pribula was hired that a grownup was actually in the room telling the truth about the budget. 
3. The previous administration tied the hands of any new manager by not having enough money to hire new department heads. I heard a leader say, “They could hire from within!” Yeah, that’ll solve everything. Lawton has to do two things. A budget is a 365/24/7 proposition. You have to watch it everyday or else it’ll get out of control. Then he has to do the following: 
1. Do an office by office audit to see what positions are truly necessary. 
2. Institute employee evaluations based on sound business performance metrics factoring in productivity, attendance, and professionalism. You know, like they do in the real world. 
3. Have administrators making over $65,000 grand take a 5% pay cut. That money can be reinvested in their offices if they have a good idea. 
4. Have the Courts, with the mandated salaries put a freeze on any new hiring. They are overstaffed to the gills already. 
5. Propose a new tax increase if the above doesn’t work. 
6. Say no to a few unions.  
7. Don't buy anything from Thom Greco.
Good luck Bob. 

THE BIRTHERS ARE BACK!!! 

The people who are saying the President is an alien are back. The other day, I saw one bloated jasper saying he didn’t believe that the Birth Certificates produced by the White House were real. A few facts: The President was born in Hawaii which is in the United States and was represented at the time by Senators Hiram Fong and Daniel Inouye. The lone representative was Patsy Mink. 
The Governor of the state was William F. Quinn. HE WAS A REPUBLICAN!!!!!!!! 
Plus an announcement was in the newspaper. How many of us were heralded in print when we came into the world? The more these people harp about this, the better it is for the President. Sometimes you’re enemies (and there are enemies that are pissed a black man is President!) can be your best blessings.

Keith Lombardi, President, Martin Guitars shows Matt Cartwright how it all comes together.

STRIKING A CHORD 

On Tuesday, Matt Cartwright, Democratic Congressional candidate for the newly formed 17th district, toured the C.F. Martin and Co. Guitar Factory in Nazareth, PA. C.F. Martin and Co. Guitar, established in 1833, is an industry leader in the design and manufacturing of acoustic guitars. “I am very excited about the chance to work with C.F. Martin and Co. Guitars in the future, the employees and more specifically their craftsmanship is outstanding,” said Cartwright. “The expertise put into each instrument takes a great deal of time. This facility is a jewel of the 17th District and I will work hard to keep family-owned business, such as Martin and Co., thriving,” Cartwright continued. The Upper Nazareth Township headquarters employs over 500 individuals and has added nearly 90 jobs in the last year and a half. Manufacturing over 50,000 instruments a year, the company has managed to survive the recent economic downturn, with an average employee tenure of 18 years. “Martin and Co. Guitars is an example of the type of quality product our hard-working men and women can manufacture. We must work hard to bring these good-paying jobs back to America,” said Cartwright. Matt Cartwright is the Democratic candidate running for Congress in the 17th Congressional District, which now includes parts of Carbon, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe and Northampton Counties, as well as all of Schuylkill County. Cartwright is running for Congress to bring jobs to Northeast Pennsylvania, and make sure that corporations and wealthy Americans pay their fair share of taxes.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT

 

MEDIA MATTERS 

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE 

This weekend Shadoe Steele features as his guest Bertie Higgins who had the big hit “Key Largo". “Saturday Night Live at THE Oldies” can be heard every Saturday from 7pm to midnight on WILK AM & FM with ABC News on the top of the hour. 

ECTV 

ECTV Live hosts Tom Munley and David DeCosmo will welcome Ann Marie Banks to the program for the week of May 28th Ann Marie represents the Lackawanna County Federation of Sportsmen which will be holding it's annual Freen Children's Fishing Derby on June 2nd. She'll share the history and details of the event with ECTV Live viewers. The program is carried on Comcast Ch19 in the Greater Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area. You can check the Electric City Program Schedule at http://sites.google.com/site/ectvschedule/ The station is also providing re-broadcasts of the annual Armed Forces Day Parade in Scranton! 

BEATLEDD HOUR 

The Beatleed Hour marks its 100th program Friday night on WRKC FM 88.5. Tune in. Ed Raineri is host. 

SUNDAY MAGAZINE 

This Weekend on Sunday Magazine..Brian Hughes speaks with financial analyst Sarah Reiger, who discusses the need for people to have Disability Insurance. This Week In Harrisburg examines the need for more state funding to help Pa. residents pay their mortgages, a bill providing legal protections for individuals acting in an emergency, the need for school districts to dip into their surplus accounts, and job growth in the Marcellus Shale region. Brian speaks with State Treasurer Rob McCord about the Pa 529 Savings Plan to help families pay for college. And audio from the Northeast Rainbow Alliance’s “It Gets Better” campaign to stop bullying and suicides of LGBT youth. Sunday Magazine, Sunday morning at 5am on Great Country 93.7, 5:30am on 97BHT, 6am on 97.9X, 6:30am on Magic 93, and 7am on WARM 590 AM .

PCN

PCN TO HONOR VETERANS ON MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND The Pennsylvania Cable Network (PCN) will air selected interviews from its “Voices of Veterans” series in order to pay tribute to those men and women that have bravely served our country. Throughout the Memorial holiday weekend, the statewide network will feature candid interviews with veterans from across the state. The special programming will air Friday, May 25 beginning at 7:00 p.m. as well as Saturday, May 26 and Sunday, May 27 at 2:00 p.m. On Memorial Day, May 28, the veteran programming block will start at 4:00 p.m. While the network’s award-winning series, “World War: In Their Own Words” concentrated on the personal wartime experiences of veterans serving during World War II, “Voices of Veterans” expands the oral histories to include those from World War II, Korean and Vietnam wars as well as those who served during the Cold War. Since 2002, PCN has gathered almost 300 interviews with veterans from all branches of service. For historic preservation and education use, the network has donated a majority of those veteran discussions to the National Veterans’ History Project in Washington, D.C.

Our "1967" logo. 

1967 

Yuri Andropov becomes KGB chief......The 25th Amendment is added to the Constitution of the United States....Naxalite Guerrilla War: Beginning with a peasant uprising in the town of Naxalbari, this Marxist/Maoist rebellion sputters on in the Indian countryside. The guerrillas operate among the impoverished peasants, fighting both the government security forces and private paramilitary groups funded by wealthy landowners. Most fighting takes place in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh.........The Australian referendum, 1967 passes with an overwhelming 90% support, removing, from the Australian Constitution, 2 discriminatory sentences referring to Indigenous Australians. It signifies Australia's first step in recognising Indigenous rights. The Folk-Rock band Fairport Convention plays their first gig in London.Biafra, in eastern Nigeria, announces its independence. (Wikipedia)……..in Pennsylvania, Mayor James Tate crows over his victory over Police Commissioner Frank Rizzo. Old line Democrats got behind the Mayor but the coalition that brought him to office, engineered by Richardson Dilworth and Joseph Clark begins to show signs of erosion…..in Luzerne County a nail biter of an election turns even more contentious when GOP party challenger beats out Wilkes Barre Attorney Joseph Kasper. The margin: less than 30 votes and 45 years ago this week the number 1 song in America and LuLac land was by the Young Rascals. It would become the anthem for the summer of '67. (LuLac archives).

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