The LuLac Edition #2232, October 17th, 2012

Our "Write On Wednesday" logo. 

WRITE ON WEDNESDAY

 ARLEN SPECTER

EDITOR’S NOTE: Today we feature two Write On Wednesday articles due to a backlog of submissions. To those who e mailed, we’ll be getting to you soon. 

The maddening, magnificent career of Arlen Specter 

Many words have been written about Arlen Specter this week. Here is an incredible editorial from the staff of the Philadelphia Daily News. Catch the quote from Ed Rendell toward the end. Those watching  Sen. Arlen Specter's long career in public service might at times have felt like they were watching a vigorous tennis match between admiration and disappointment. Admiration, for example, at his vote that torpedoed conservative Supreme Court candidate Robert Bork, then disappointment at his brutal questioning of Anita Hill during Clarence Thomas' hearing. Admiration for his intellect and command of issues, and disappointment at his curious "single-bullet theory" of the Kennedy assassination. Admiration for his moderation as a Republican, then disappointment at his somewhat cynical party switch when he lost Republican support (and later, lost his Senate seat.) Today, with his death at 82, we experience the admiration in his tenacity in the face of multiple health setbacks, including Hodgkin's lymphoma, a brain tumor and open-heart surgery, and disappointment that he wasn't able to bully death so it would leave him alone for at least a few more years. Tenacious, irascible, tough, a fighter - these are the most common descriptors of Specter, who was Pennsylvania's longest-serving senator. Those words are reductive, though, given the shape of the political battlefield he both played on and shaped. In a political landscape that has become increasingly calcified by the simplistic, Arlen Specter was a complicated man. He was a key vote in Obama's stimulus bill in 2009, which ended his stay in the Republican party, although throughout his career he had voted with the GOP position only 58 percent of the time, parting ways over such issues as abortion rights and stem-cell research. That's a record that can hardly be imagined in today's Congress of frozen partisanship. When Specter was elected to the Senate in 1980, there were many moderate Republicans. By the time he left the party in 2009, there were just a few. And when he finally left the Senate in 2010, he gave a "closing argument" rather than a goodbye speech, excoriating senators "who insist on ideological purity as a precondition," bemoaning the fact that compromising had become a dirty word. Our own editorial page singled him out early on for standing up to divisiveness and obstructionism: "Specter, bless him, has started asking lonely questions about some of the folks who have been providing footsoldiers for his party for years, but have the potential to split it apart . . . Specter had the effrontery to support separation of church and state before an audience that doesn't flinch at this great democracy becoming a theocratic state, like Iran. . ." That was in 1994, when he ran (briefly) for president. Specter's energy for a fight brought great benefits to the state: he brought billions of federal dollars to Pennsylvania, and his office was known for constituent services. He was known for visiting all 67 counties for town-hall meetings. While we don't fully agree with former Gov. Ed Rendell's view that Specter "did more for Pennsylvania than anyone, with the possible exception of Ben Franklin," he certainly joins the pantheon of statesmen who have helped shape the country and its political life. 

WRITE ON WEDNESDAY (2) 

ROBO CALLS ARE LIES 

In the next few weeks, voters will be the recipients of political robocalls. Some will champion the records of those the calls support, others will outright lie about a person’s record. Wyoming County resident Ed Zygmunt relates a call he had. This dovetails with the call Mrs. LuLac got the other night from the Romney campaign which, after asking her name, inquired as to “If she were interested in getting Obama out of office? Subtle, huh? Anyway., here’s his comments. 
Editor: A few nights ago I received a robocall from Mitt Romney's campaign. The recorded message proceeded to (mis)inform me that President Obama's economic stimulus program was a failure. It was a similar sound bite that we've heard from our local congressmen Tom Marino and Lou Barletta. Well let's take a closer look. Besides helping to keep the country from sliding into a depression, a full one-third of the $775 billion stimulus went directly to middle class families in the form of tax cuts. In Pennsylvania alone, over $11 billion in tax reductions went to every wage earner to help buy groceries, pay utility bills, and invest in their children's education. I wonder if these hard working Americans would agree that the stimulus program was a failure? Speaking of education, nearly $3 billion was distributed to the Wilkes-Barre, Hazleton, and Pittston school districts, along with many other districts in the commonwealth. This crucial funding helped financially stressed school districts keep hundreds of dedicated teachers in the classroom instructing our next generation of scientists, engineers and community leaders. I wonder if the parents of these students would agree that the stimulus program was a failure. How about the nearly $2 billion that was wisely invested in rebuilding Pennsylvania's vital transportation infrastructure? Projects like repairs to the Johh S. Fine bridge on the South Cross Valley expressway or the new state-of-the art control tower at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton airport. I'd like you to tell the hundreds of construction workers who proudly made these critical upgrades to our transportation infrastructure possible that the stimulus program was a failure. What's that you say about the national debt? Oh, you must be referring to the trillions in debt caused by two unfunded wars in the Middle East and the simultaneous Bush tax cuts. I could go on about the $25 million secured by former Congressman Chris Carney for the new hospital under construction in Montrose, or other vital funding for nutrition programs, elderly and low-income housing, public safety, and energy conservation that were directly impacted by President Obama's Recovery Act. I could even remind you the unemployment rate is now below eight percent. But I know you are too busy trying to prevent the president from moving our great country forward. Please Mr. Romney, the next time you call my house, don't try to deceive me with your political misspeak. 
Ed Zygmunt 
Laceyville