The LuLac Edition #2371, March 7th, 2013

Gas Drilling Awareness Poster. (Photo: GDAC Facebook page).

FUNDRAISER THIS SUNDAY!!!!!!! 

The place to be this Sunday night is at the River Street Jazz Cafe when the Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition holds their third annual fundraiser. On Sunday March 10th from 6 to 9pm, guests will be treated to music, raffles, of art works gift baskets and get the opportunity to support the goals of this group. Suggested donation is $10.00 but c’mon, you can’t even buy a martini (I’m told) for that amount. Plus there’s free pasta as well as music by Mother Nature’s Sons and Maria DuBiel.

OBAMA’S MISTAKE 

The recent mess in Washington over the budget cuts called The Sequester is going to have a deleterious effect on the Obama administration. First off, the inaction and hand wringing of the President did him no PR favors. His approval ratings are sinking and his other agenda items that he so boldly put forth in his State of the Union are in jeopardy. It is ironic that a President accused of being a lover of big government just might by stymied by his ability to operate the levers of that government’s power. It is a government of and by the people. And the masses he is speaking to can’t give him the votes in Congress to pass his programs. 
As the President, he has to appeal to the human traits of his opposition. All of them have ambition, greed, things they want for themselves. His disdain to horse trade is going to doom his agenda. Here’s an example. John Boehner is being shackled by the House GOP right. Boehner would like to make a deal, demonstrated that last year but can’t because he’s going to lose his Speakership. If I were in the White House, I’d appeal to Boehner’s patriotism. Get him on board, tell him that with or without the Sequester, the Tea Party will find something else wrong with him and depose him anyway. Get his support then offer him a soft landing. Ambassadorships, Cabinet, anything. Move jobs into his district, just get him on board. 
In my estimation, this is Health Care all over again! The President is losing control of the message. His administration has cut the budget but to hear the GOP tell it, Obama has made more spending cuts than any administration in the last decade. 
a. The continuing resolution of 2010 decreased the budget. 
b. The Budget Control Act of 2011 reduced the budget. 
c. The revenue increases at the end of 2012, start of 2013 drove the debt down. 
d. And now the Sequester even though the cuts are questionable because they are coming from discretionary funds and are not line items. If Obama gets about 6 billion in new revenues and makes real entitlement reform with people starting at the age of say 53, (right now) he can put the entitlements on the right track as well as reduce the debt by 1.2 trillion bucks! But he can’t do that by giving speeches. Or dithering. 
The dinner last night with the Senators was a start but the problem is in the House. 
Here’s the thing about Presidents. They get praised for everything when life is good and get blamed for everything when it’s bad. When the Hostage Crisis with Iran first started in 1979 and into the ’80 Presidential Election, the nation and voters rallied around Jimmy Carter. He beat Ted Kennedy in every primary early on. But as the crisis dragged on, people blamed Carter and stopped supporting him. 
Most Americans do not pay attention to the nuances of government. Many would be hard pressed to tell you who their Congressman is. One of my friends from grade school, who follows this stuff every day was surprised when he went into his voting booth in November and was startled that he didn’t see Lou Barletta on his ballot. You can blame that on gerrymandering or the fact that this got by him. But Congress is opaque in most Americans eyes. 
The Sequester is being blamed on Congress by the White House. They have said that every day to the American people. Except that most Americans don’t know a lot about Congress or who runs the levers of power. But most people, even the idiots know who the President is. That question is asked of every football player who ever got his bell rung or anyone checking into an ER. In the last two days I talked to three people and asked them about this latest debacle. And the answer was universally, “You mean Obama’s sequester thing? He better fix that thing”. No one mentioned a word about Congress. 
Again, I come back to Health Care in 2009. If he handles this thing like he did Health Care, not getting involved in the dirt and mud, say goodbye to any grand plans he might have had for his legacy. History will write that he was a rock star on the campaign trail but turned into a roadie, moving ideas from place to place but not really accomplishing anything except that during this golden opportunity of a second term. 

ANOTHER TRAGEDY 

 Last week, Nanticoke resident Eric Williams was buried. He was the prison guard killed by an inmate at a Federal prison in our area. Now word comes that a 43 year old fellow employee of Williams committed suicide because he was so distraught by the incident. We still don’t know who the inmate was and why he had it in for this guard. WBRE reported that the “inmate” was at the facility in Wayne County temporarily and that he had killed another inmate somewhere else. But what we do know now is that now three lives are on this inmate. 
I have no problem paying the taxman, you all know that, but is would be outrageous if this inmate was brought to trial expending more money for his care. This animal should be put down. The prison guards should be armed. With guns. With bullets! Every nut in the world outside has a gun, why not a prison guard whose life is on the line? A bullet to the brain will stop an animal with a shank any day. Another example of this world being ass backwards!

Congressman Matt Cartwright.  (Photo: LuLac archives). 

CARTWRIGHT ON TOBYHANNA CUTS 

Congressman Matt Cartwright made this statement on the cuts coming to Tobyhanna Army Depot. The Tobyhanna Army Depot released information concerning the $309 million reduction in funding as a result of the sequester cuts. Unless reversed, the Depot will move forward with unpaid furloughs to its 5,136 civilian employees for 22 non-consecutive days, totaling 176 hours, between late April and September 30. “Today’s announcement from the Tobyhanna Army Depot should remind us about the consequences of Congress’s inaction on sequestration, and I am deeply concerned about this recent news. We can all agree that, as we transition to a peace-time military, spending will have to decrease. However, the severity and the suddenness of these cuts will impair our war fighters’ ability to carry out their missions. The army has a plan to do this, but these sequester cuts will make it difficult for them to be implemented in a reasonable way. I have signed on as a co-sponsor to HR 900, a one sentence bill that will eliminate the sequester, so working families in Northeastern Pennsylvania don’t have to share in the pain of Congress’s inability to compromise. Rather than work toward a solution to avert the irresponsible and reckless spending cuts of the sequester, Republicans have wasted significant time having held only 20 legislative days out of the last 64. Congress can work together to find a balanced approach to deficit reduction while meeting the needs of our military- one which won’t result in layoffs and furloughs. I hope that the Republican majority will allow a vote on HR 900.” 

MEDIA MATTERS 

THE PARTY ZONE 

Catch the new extended 70s, 80s, 90s oldies show "The Party Zone" with Shadoe Steele beginning this Saturday from 6 - midnight on 50,000 watt powerhouse WAVT-FM - T-102. ... and on line at www.t102radio.com 

ECTV 

ECTV Live marked a milestone with its 150th program airing the week of March 4th. The program, hosted by Judge Tom Munley and produced and co-hosted by retired WYOU TV veteran David DeCosmo featured information on entertainment and service events and activities offered free of charge to the public in northeastern Pennsylvania. Representatives of many of the organizations featured on the program since its premier were in attendance on the program which is broadcast daily on Comcast TV Ch19.  
Next Monday's ECTV Live will have Rusty Fender filling in as co-hos while David DeCosmo is on vacation. Judge Tom Munley will welcome a representative from the Greater Scranton Jaycees will be on the program to talk about the organization's annual FREE Easter Egg Hunt as well as other public services organized by the Jaycees! The program, as usual, airs on Comcast Ch19 throughout the week!

State Representative Kevin Haggerty. (Photo: LuLac archives). 

HAGGERTY ON PCN 

State Representative Kevin Haggerty will appear on PCN on March 11th at 8PM. Great attention has come to his school safety bill and recently a long standing Republican ( Representative John Taylor of Philadelphia) endorsed the bill through a state wide press release. .A few days later, March 14th WVIA will host a panel comprised of Haggerty former Congressman Chris Carney, Senator Lisa Baker and Dr Margaret Billings Jones, discussing his bill and overall School safety. That show begins at 7PM. Not bad for a rookie Legislator if you ask me! 

SUNDAY MAGAZINE 

This Week on Sunday Magazine This Week in Harrisburg examines legislation to extend background check requirements to include volunteers who work with children. Senate Democrats look to restore public welfare benefits to those who lost them in 2011, and highlights from a Senate PENNDOT budget hearing, which includes Senator John Blake's inquiry about the fate of a long proposed rail line between Scranton and Hoboken, New Jersey.  Brian Hughes speaks with Marcy Bronsburg of Luzerne County Community College about their upcoming Zumbathon to benefit the school's dental hygiene students taking expensive National Board Exams. Magic 93's Frankie in the Morning speaks with Erin Pikul about next Saturday's Renal Race 2 on Public Square in Wilkes Barre to raise money for kidney cancer research. And an encore of Brian's interview with travel guru Chris McGuiness about the best travel deals for the Spring. Sunday Magazine, Sunday morning at 5am on Great Country 93.7, 5:30am on 97BHT, 6am on 97.9X, 6:25am on Magic 93 and 7am on True Oldies 590, WARM.  

Our “1976” logo. 

1976

Two coal mine explosions claim 26 lives at the Blue Diamond Coal Co. Scotia Mine in Letcher County, Kentucky............Angola and Benin recognize the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR)...... Mozambique recognizes the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR). .....After eight years on NBC, The Wizard of Oz returns to CBS, where it will remain for the next twenty-two years, setting what was likely then a record for the most telecasts of a Hollywood film on a commercial television network....
 
Jimmy Carter, a Georgia Peanut Farmer beats out the following contenders in the pivotal New Hampshire primary. He finishes ahead of U.S. Representative Morris Udall of Arizona, U.S. Senator Birch Bayh of Indiana, former Oklahoma Senator Fred Harris and a former ambassador to France, Sargent Shriver. The next week, Carter appears on the covers of Time and Newsweek Magazines……in Pennsylvania, political insiders wonder whether Carter can play well in the state. As they wonder, Carter is already scheduling trips to the Keystone State for the Pennsylvania primary held in April…..and in Luzerne County, the cracks in the shaky alliance between Democratic Commissioners Ed Wideman and Frank Crossin reveal themselves when Wideman forms a voting coalition with Minority Commissioner Steve Yanoshak…and the number 1 song in LuLac land and America was “All By Myself” by the former Raspberries member Eric Carmen. The song is derived from a Rachmaninoff piano concerto. Carmen thought the work was in the public domain but later settled with the family. 
 of the classical composer.