The LuLac Edition #2435, May 30th, 2013
BACHMAN SAYS “SEE YA”
Congresswoman Michele Bachman has decided to call it quits. In a You Tube video the other day, Bachman alluded to investigations going on from her failed 2012 Presidential bid but said they had nothing to do with her decision to withdraw. That’s kind of like the old line from athletes when they say it isn’t about the money. When they say that, it usually is. Bachman has been in office for eight years and has been a darling of the Conservative right. Her high water mark was during a Nevada Straw poll in 2011 when she scored an impressive but narrow 29% over other front runners. But like most current conservative flavors of the month, her shelf life was pretty short. Look for Bachman to make some money on the lecture circuit, show up on Fox News as a commentator and possibly become a body double for Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane.
A FOREIGN POLICY HAVEN?
If the President continues to have his second term agenda stalled by a recalcitrant Republican House, look for him to do what other American Presidents have done with success. Obama just might embrace Foreign Policy initiatives in his second term to salvage a more durable legacy in history. Other Presidents like Nixon sought refuge from the scourge of Watergate in the 70s. Ford built up his bonafides as President after his WIN (Whip Inflation Now) campaign stumbled. Reagan focused primarily on Cold War politics in the second term and Bill Clinton tried to shore up a PLO/Israeli peace pact to get away from the Monica situation.Look for Obama’s attention to Foreign Policy to ramp up, especially if the Democrats take a fall in the 2014 mid terms and Obama is confronted with GOP majorities in both houses. Presidents never like to admit they are lame ducks and Foreign Policy keeps them in the game.
COUNTY ELECTION FALLOUT
The Pepperidge Farm Bread Company’s slogan is “Good is in the details”. If only the Luzerne County Election Director, Marisa Crispell and the 5 member County Election Board had lived by that slogan. Granted, computer system do crash. It is unavoidable. But making a major mistake, calling Hazleton City (of all places in the County to overlook again!) a borough is unconscionable. Also failing to inform two neighboring counties that Steve Hahn withdrew his candidacy, the inaction of the Election Bureau altered the election. Hazleton resident and School Board incumbent Carmella Yenkevich lost by twenty votes on both parties. Yenkevich said she was told she must file legal papers, and pay a lawyer to file a challenge. Really? Oh yeah, that’s the Luzerne County way, put the onus on the injured party. I saw in the Citizen’s Voice where Bob Caruso demanded the resignations of the entire Election Board. He is correct. They are responsible as well as the Director. They are the big shots who get the glory and the credit and when a mistake, a basic mistake like this is made, they should all go. I’m sure Tom Baldino, John Ruckno, John Newman, Barbara Williams, and Jeremy Packard are nice folks but they should get a clue. They should be replaced by responsible individuals who are less interested in preening for the media and sit their asses down and look at the details. The simple, avoidable errors that make our county once more look stupid and like a bunch of fools that can’t get out of their own way. And while we’re at it, let’s look at Bob Lawton’s total trusting of everything Walter Griffith had to say when he first got to town. Griffith got involved in a dispute with Len Piazza and that incident was blown way out of proportion costing Luzerne County the best Election Director it ever had. Maybe when Tom Pisano bolted last year, just before the General Election of 2012, he saw something we were all missing in this picture.
BARRETT TAKES A STROLL
I read with interest where City Council Chairman Bill Barrett called on Mayor Leighton to form a committee to look at blighted buildings in Wilkes Barre neighborhoods. Barrett said that blighted buildings are not good for neighborhoods. Really? Barrett has been on Council now for more than two terms and he just realizes this now? Any Crime Watch person could have told him that. So after multi terms in office, Barrett takes a walk up George Avenue, sees boarded up buildings and slaps his forehead in amazement and incredulity.Is Barrett positioning himself as Leighton’s successor? With the crime in Wilkes Barre constant, with transients wrecking neighborhoods for years, all of a sudden this is news?
Granted, the downtown looks beautiful. But Wilkes Barre City has been a joke in driving the good people out and keeping the garbage in. Case in point, a few years ago, a guy moved in to the late Councilman Joe Williams old house from Philadelphia. Had a wife and two kids. He started a business that employed people. One of the neighbors on my street (who is long gone) bitched that the guy was parking a truck on the street. The boneheads on the Zoning Board ruled against the guy and drove him and his business out of town.
If you try to fix something to improve your property, you have a full scale investigation as to what you are doing from the Code Department. But if you keep your property like a proverbial shit hole, it can stand for another ten years or so ignored by the City, until of course some Councilman decides to take another walk.
If you want to move something out of your house and get rid of it, God forbid if you park a truck halfway out of your driveway for thirty minutes in the middle of the day. A cop will write you up while a stabbing and on the other side of town a drug deal will go down! So now Barrett wants to get rid of blighted buildings! Nothing like coming to the party 10 years too late Mr. Chairman.
MEDIA MATTERS
ECTV
ECTV Live will feature information about a FREE Health Care Fair on the program during the week of June 3rd. The program is hosted by Judge Tom Munley and David DeCosmo and is aired on Comcast Ch19 at Noon and Midnight each day.
SUNDAY MAGAZINE
This Week on Sunday Magazine. Magic 93's Frankie in the Morning speaks with Cindy Garin and Carol Crane from the Red Cross about their "Everyday Heroes" campaign. Brian Hughes speaks with travel guru Chris McGuinness about the best deals for summer vacationing. And an encore of Brian's April interview with medical expert Stuart Tomc regarding the "Massacre Mindset", and how nutrition may play a role. 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.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
SUE HENRY’S "SPECIAL EDITION"
Sue Henry will have the entire President Jimmy Carter speech (time allowed) as delivered at the Wyoming Monument. Sue will speak with Attorney Robert K. Tanenbaum, New York Times best seller and author of the book, "Echoes of My Soul," an account of the 1963 "Career Girls Murder," which was cited by the U.S. Supreme Court as a compelling reason to give Americans Miranda Rights after a 17 hour interrogation of an individual lead to a false confession. Also, Sue will host Jeff Selingo, editor-at-large for The Chronicle of Higher Education and author of "College (Un)Bound: The Future of Higher Education and What it Means for Students. The Public Affairs Show airs at 2 p.m. Saturday and 7 p.m. Sunday on WILK.
FORMER PCN HOST WINS NOD
We received information today that former PCN TV Talk Show host Bill Bova was elected to the Palmyra Area School Board in Lebanon County. He voted at 8AM that morning and wasn’t even in the race. But things move fast near Harrisburg. Bova was approached by the GOP to allow his name to be written in as a candidate for the School Board. He got enough votes to be one of the four candidates to garner a dual nomination. The man who has so ably interviewed Governors, Senators, Ambassadors, Sports Hall of Famers and other people of note just might find himself on the other side of the microphone. Bova is currently a lobbyist for Greenlee and Associates.
KING WINS GERSHWIN AWARD
Singer songwriter Carole King won the Gershwin Award last week. She is the first woman to garner the award. King was feted by many contemporaries like Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Trisha Yearwood, Gloria Estefan and of course her singer, song soul mate James Taylor. To this day, one of the best concerts I ever attended was at the Arena with King and Taylor. It is an award well deserved. Here’s a clip from the event.
1976
A car bomb fatally injures Arizona Republic reporter Don Bolles........The Boston Celtics defeat the Phoenix Suns 128-126 in triple overtime in Game 5 of the NBA Finals at the Boston Garden. In 1997, the game is selected by a panel of experts as the greatest of the NBA's first 50 years. – The Teton Dam collapses in southeast Idaho in the U.S., killing 11 people..in the Arizona Caucus, hometown favorite Morris Udall beats ex Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter two to one, Udall also carries Washington State while Senator Frank Church takes Montana handily. But Carter prevails in contests in Rhode Island and South Dakota leading up to the crucial California, Ohio and New Jersey primaries…….on the GOP side, Ronald Reagan takes Montana and South Dakota while President Ford takes Rhode Island…..in Pennsylvania, Philadelphian Bill Green says that John Heinz will spend millions to buy the Senate seat Green is seeking in the General Election. Heinz said he will only spend what he needs to get his name out there…..in Wilkes Barre and Scranton, area race fans start gearing up for the Schaffer 500 due at Pocono Race Way set for late June. Wilkes Barre Mayor Walter Lisman and Scranton Mayor Eugene Peters have volunteer committees armed with a Bicentennial bent to get the overflow business to their cities from the big race that will be featured nationally as a Bicentennial event on ABC TV……and thirty seven years ago the number 1 song in LuLac land and America was a really sad song about a dog. Henry Gross and “Shannon”.
posted by David Yonki @ 5:39 PM
10 comments
10 Comments:
dave, thank you, thank you, thank you for calling out that phony bill barrett. he is a triple dipping bloodsucker that has been feasting at the public trough for over 30years. now he wants to fix the blighted neighborhoods? where the hell was he the last few terms on council! and the county election clowns showed they have no clue. Why should we trust anything they say or do? Plus you gave them way too much credit on the crash on election night. It never happened under lenny piazza.
I left Wilkes Barre because the city didn't do anything, anything to clean up, patrol or police the neighborhoods. If you are a real estate crony or belong to the same three or four families related by marriage, you get taken care of. Barrett should have done this a long time but at least he isn't a mummy like my former northend councilman who hasn't said crap in his term in office. Glad I got the hell out.
Dave, are you having second thoughts about the great and infallible Walter?
Yonks,
The Carol King thing was excellent!
Truly one of the greats as a young writer to the over the top success of TAPESTRY, one of the great LPs of all time! Lookin good, Lady! She was clearly enjoying every minute of the show especially the SONGS! Strong performances by all.
Nicely handled by the President as well.
PBS at its Best.
Pete
Really depressing song Dave. Hey, Bachman is gone and you are correct, the shelf life on someone like that is very short. And I think the County of Luzerne should get a new election board as well as getting a new director.
If Obama does not get imigration reform, Foreign Policy might have all he has left to salvage a legacy. You my friend are right on point again. Love the 76 election results too.
I really like Sue's weekend Public Affairs Show. Glad I finally got the times.
Need to say that I think the County has done well since Home Rule. The errors being made are not ones of corruption, but growing pains. Give people a chance at the County level Yonk.
That stated, Wilkes Barre is a lost cause. The Council has been so busy rubber stamping Leighton and then trying to get answers from LAG towing, that everything else is going in the crapper. Especially the neighborhoods. But Council still gets their pay, don't they?
Short shelf life? Only in the shallowest and narrowest sense, Yonk.
Consider:
Although we will miss Michele Bachmann, we are lucky that she left us in good hands. Young leaders like Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, Rand Paul, Kristi Noem, and Paul Broun are proudly taking up the mantle of the Tea Party. But in a greater sense, tomorrow’s Tea Party leaders are the same as yesterday’s. They are us. You and me. Every American who said, “Stop!” to Obama’s wealth redistribution and crippling regulations of free people and free enterprise. Every American who doesn’t want the deficit expanded and the economy contracted. Every American who doesn’t want Israel abandoned and hostile governments embraced. Every American who doesn’t want Nancy Pelosi in charge of our budget and the I.R.S. in charge of our health insurance.
Keep that in mind when you hear claims that Michele Bachmann’s decision not to run for re-election means the end of the Tea Party too. It’s true that Congresswoman Bachmann’s outspoken defense of fiscal responsibility and fidelity to the Constitution made her a great messenger for the Tea Party. It also made her a great congresswoman. But the Tea Party’s message of freedom is as old as the Federalist Papers and as enduring as the Constitution Bachmann defended. Her message existed long before she went to Washington, and it will endure long after she (like George Washington) returns home after eight years of service.
The belief in smaller government and the ability of every American to control their own destiny does not have an expiration date.
David, the biggest problem created by the Petrilla gang with regard to the Election Bureau is that there was no deputy under then direcor Len Pizza.
It is absolutely correct that Griffith caused Piazza to go over the edge with his harassment of P:iazza using the time clock. Thew Board of Elections should have had a talk with :Piazza to ex ;plain what he didn't seem to understand. Even though he worked nights and held meetings with cadidates to help them through the paper work process he didn't understand that when the county changed to Home Rule, he was no longer the employee of the Election Board but rather that of the County under Manager Lawton. If that had been done, there never would have been a problem.
Let's not forget that Griffith had a ;problem with his filings when he first ran for Controller and was taken to task by Piazza. Griffith did not forget that and I believe it was the basis of his harassment. When did it become the duty of the Controller to decide who should or should not use the time clock?
The solution is simple, bring Len :Piazza back as the Director of the Election Bureau and keep the current director as his Deputy. She is not without experience and knowledge but she is not experienced enough to be the Director. This is a simple fix and we the people should demand that Piazza be brought back.
I think Wilkes Barre should change the slogan from "I Believe" to "Go Ahead, Take It" Want a new TV? Just watch it being delivered to a hard working family....and then a few days later, TAKE IT!
Want an IPhone? Just chase down a preoccupied student, slap them around and TAKE IT!
Want some tools or painting supplies? Watch a guy or contractor fixing up a house and on a Holiday weekend, TAKE IT!
Wilkes Barre is open for the the taking because it'll take two to three phone calls to get a cop to file a report. Why work and save up when you could come to Wilkes Barre and TAKE IT!
Five years from now, Bill Barrett and the Council Clowns will be asking to form a committee to look into this!
But in the meantime, just go ahead and take what you want.
But remember, crime victims have Iphones, video cameras and guns.
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