The LuLac Edition #2680, June 22nd 2014

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MAYBE I’M AMAZED

MAYBE I’M AMAZED……..that the comparisons to Vietnam and Iraq are so potent. In Vietnam in the 60s, the U.S. propped up the Diem regime which was primarily Catholic. Instead of working with the other major religion in that nation, the Buddhists, the policy was to leave them out and persecute them. Diem was later overthrown and killed. In Iraq, the current President who we backed is not being inclusive of every religious sect. The Sunnis, Shia and Kurds need to either be partitioned, like Joe Biden said when he was running for President or someone needs to put pressure on Iraq President Nouri al-Maliki. He needs to do something to either unite his country and not beat down a minority sect. Or some really bad history will repeat itself.
MAYBE I’M AMAZED………..at the number of people in the Republican party in Pennsylvania who are having major problems with Governor Tom Corbett. There is even talk in the Capitol that candidates running for Senate and the House are running away from the embattled incumbent. Somewhere I bet there's a e mail floating around even urging that course of action.
MAYBE I’M AMAZED……..that in the Wall Street Journal this week, former Vice President Dick Cheney along with his daughter wrote an Op Ed piece essentially saying the that President Obama is on track "to secure his legacy as a man who betrayed our past and squandered our freedom”. Again, the neo cons with the freedom word there. Of all people to talk about a failed Iraq policy, well let me tell you it just shouldn’t be Cheney. The guy is tone deaf and shameless if he has us believe the current threat of terrorism is the President’s fault. (I’ll give that maybe he should have done something in Syria). But by invading Iraq and destabilizing a Muslim government, we only emboldened the terror threat against us. The Iraq war was fought on a lie that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. Cheney either believed that or told a bald faced lie. He said we would be greeted as liberators and that after our intervention extremists would have to rethink their future strategies of Jihad. A poster advised I used the word “mendacity” to describe the former Veep’s statement. The definition of that word is living in a world of falsehood and untruths. The amazing thing here is Cheney is not only being called out by liberals but guys like Conservative Pat Buchanan and Fox News’ Megyn Kelly who did not give Cheney a pass when he appeared on Wednesday night. Even Robert McNamara. toward the end of his life had the sense and good grace to apologize for his failures in Vietnam. This guy can’t or won’t. In the meantime, one must wonder what type of Presidency George W. Bush might have had if he picked someone else as a running mate instead of Cheney.
MAYBE I’M AMAZED…….that during the 6am to 6:30AM time slot on a Saturday morning I counted 35 infomercials. More than a third of the 90 channels I was checking that morning.
MAYBE I’M AMAZED………….that the Yankee Old Timers games just keeping getting sadder and sadder for fans of my generation. Sunday they wheeled Whitey Ford and Yogi Berra out in a golf cart. What is disturbing is that they start the ceremony at 11am now so the Stadium is half packed with fans.
MAYBE I’M AMAZED…….that when tooling around the EBay site, I came across this cover of the 1965 Pittsburgh Pirates Yearbook. Now that ’65 team had a World Series Champ on it named Roberto Clemente. There was an up and coming star named Willie Stargell who would later go to the Hall of Fame. The Bucs had a pitcher named Bob Veale who would win 17 games that year. Another up and comer was Manny Mota as well as their great defensive shortstop Jose Pagan. By the way, these were as I’m sure you’ll surmise players of color. 

The Pirates decided to put the Coaching staff on the cover of the yearbook. Walker had just taken over for Danny Murtaugh during the previous season and I understand the issue of wanting to promote the new regime. But I was struck that 18 years after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, the Bucs did not promote their top guys, Clemente and Stargell on the cover. Tells you all you need to know about racial tensions in the mid 60s.
MAYBE I’M AMAZED……that the Internal Revenue Service wants us as taxpayers to hold on to records. But yet they don’t have the capacity to keep e mails for 6 months? Really? I think that is truly an insult to the people who pay their salaries, us. Dumb and dumber in the IRS.
MAYBE I’M AMAZED…….that yesterday was the 70th anniversary of President Franklin D. Roosevelt signing the GI Bill. That legislation enabled war veterans to return home, learn a trade, go to college and rebuild their lives. It is one of the landmark laws that has stood the test of time. If only there could be that type of cooperation between the branches of government today. Today Republicans in Congress would cry, “But where are we going to get the moneeeey for all of this?”
MAYBE I’M AMAZED……that when you see the landscape of a truly totalitarian state, you see grand portraits and statues of “The {Great/Grand/Omnipotent, take your pick} Leader. Yet these are the societies where everyone and everything is supposed to be equal. There is a reason why democracies erect statues to their leaders after they have died. And why other governments pay homage to their living leaders.
MAYBE I’M AMAZED…..but not really about Joe Holden’s report on WBRE TV Sunday night regarding a Country and Western All Amurikan concert in Pittsburgh. Last year the tailgaters left the parking lot in shambles. This year city officials handed out garbage bags in hopes that the concert goers would clean up their pork skins, grits, pork bellies and beer cans after the event. After all, surely they are Americans that take pride in their country, the venue they are visiting and themselves. Of course the answer is they didn’t. I forgot they were Amurikans and most likely had to high tail it home in case President Obama was trying to steal their guns!
MAYBE I’M AMAZED……..every day I drive by Place One on South Main Street. As a fan of tall women in beautiful ball gowns, I used to lovingly look in the windows as I was stopped at a light on my way to work. More than a few times did an irate driver behind me lay on the horn to have me move on. But this morning I saw a sign in the window saying” Temporarily relocated to Scranton”. 
And I thought this; that is a long way to relocate. Once you relocate, do you still get the same business you originally had? How many consumers will drive to Scranton to get their finery? Consumers like the familiar, the easily accessible. Would it not be more prudent for Place One to grab another place in downtown Wilkes Barre? I understand Ms. Coffee’s fondness for the heritage building but sacred churches have been torn down in this area. The venerable Yankee Stadium has now been replaced by a new entity across the street. I think it’s time, just my opinion here, for Place One to relocate more closer to home. Say another store in the downtown of Wilkes Barre. I might have to change my traffic patterns but hey, life is full of changes.