The LuLac Edition #2810, January 2nd, 2015

OBAMA TAKEN TO TASK

One of our regular LuLac readers was not real happy with the recent capitulation by the President regarding the recent budget bill cobbled together by the President and Congress. Now we have never been a fan of government shutdowns and it always seemed that the GOP was hell-bent on any progress this President was trying to make. For instance telling the lie that millions of jobs would be lost because of The Affordable Care Act. Yet the Labor Statistics point to the lowest unemployment since 2006. So again where did the jobs go? But this reader points out in his letter to the President that maybe it was time for the President to take a stand on the language in the bill which allows The Wall Street bankers to once again screw us over. Anyway here are his thoughts:
In view of the president signing the most recent piece of garbage legislation by Congress, I sent him the follow frustration filled email..... If you missed it, the republican Congress and 60 Senators voted to pass the budget bill by eliminating any and all controls on big banking. There are absolutely NO restrictions on bankers doing again what they did leading up the great bailout, The problem is that those banks that were too big to fail are now bigger and more powerful. Another insult to the working class is that the bill also included an attack on pensions. The republicans with Democrat help have made it possible for pension plans to be rolled back and benefits all but killed and Obama signed it.
WHY DID HE DO IT?
TO AVOID ANOTHER GOVERNMENT SHUT DOWN....... Who the hell cares?
If the deal was shut down the government or kill the middle class then shut down the government. Last time the Republicans shut down the government, it costs us 26 billion dollars and the voter rewarded the Republicans be giving them the House and the Senate. Obviously the voters want more for the wealthy and less for the working class. We can all do nothing or we can express our displeasure...... the Republicans and the 1% are winning because we gave them the ball and we went home. I refuse to walk without a shout out to the president. I can't yell at my Congressman because he did what was right as did Sen. Casey. Congressman Barletta and Sen. Toomey voted for the banks and against the people but that seems to be what the sheep want.

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT

Mr. President. Having supported you these past 6 years, I can say that you have pushed me as far as I care to go. I no longer support you or will argue in your favor. You have sold we the people out every time the Republicans have tried to push you into a corner. You just signed a bill that will create the possibility of banks doing a bigger blunder than the bailout. In signing that Bill, you also turned your back on the working class of this country. You have allowed pensions to be destroyed and the Republican Congress is happy to destroy them. You have done as much damage to we the people as the Republicans could have hoped for. They only needed to push you a small amount and you folded each and every time like a wet noodle. Did you ever have to fight for what you believe in? Were you so protected by your grandmother that you got everything you ever wanted and pouted till you got what was first denied? Why didn't you let the bum Republicans shut down the government? Why sell us out to let them have what they want? If there was such a thing as a recall election, your butt would be out on Pennsylvania Ave. I am just sick to death of you caving in at every push by the Republicans. You disappoint me and every other American voter who supported you.
Shame on you Mr. President, shame on you.
Good points there by this reader. Plus my contention is that the Democratic party is being bullied by the loudmouths who have crushes on the rich Wall Street bankers in ever thinking “they” will be part of that in crowd. If the President did the Executive Action on Immigration the vote he got in 2012 would have come out. If the Democratic Party had not run way from credit card reform, The Affordable Care Act, the reduction of the Budget that the Republicans were crying about in the 2010 election, “Oh our grandchildren will have to carry this debt, boo hoo “ as well as the way consumer spending has grown perhaps the outcome of the ’14 elections would have been different. The problem is the Democrats have not called out the GOP for the lies they continually tell without any retribution. This morning on the news there was a report that said that the IRS was going to be understaffed this year because of attrition. Remember when the GOP screamed about how the IRS had to hire 10,000 more IRS agents to deal with the Affordable Care Act? On January 1st, 20 states raised the minimum wage. Wait for the bullshit lies to begin on that. Small businesses will suffer, people will lose jobs, yada yada yada. When in fact it has been proven that raising the minimum wage increases consumer spending. Improves the economy. The sad part is that poor slobs making under $15,000 grand a year idolize and worship this ideology which does nothing to improve their own personal lot in life. Talking about voting against your own interests!

DID HE REALLY SAY THAT?

DID HE REALLY SAY THAT ON TV?????

This week WBRE TV did a story on The Movie Theatre in downtown Scranton closing. With The Station Mall in foreclosure as well as 70% of the Mall tenants evacuating the former showplace the reporter sought out the Scranton Chamber of Commerce head Robert Durkin to get his comments about the recent developments. We had a few people over and a few were interested in the story. So with the magic of DVR Technology, we rewound. Here’s what Durkin said:
“A more reasonable thing to think about when you are talking about downtown Scranton is that it going through what I refer to as an organic transition. It’s moving from a historic central business district into more of a residential neighborhood.” After rewinding a few times no one in the room could figure out what the hell he meant. So we kind of diagrammed the statement. “organic” in the economic sense means business expansion through increasing output and sales as opposed to mergers, acquisitions and take overs. “Transition” means “movement, change, passage or change from one position”.
So does that mean Scranton will no longer try to attract businesses for the downtown? Does it mean that the City of Scranton will become one big neighborhood? If that’s the case then while people in the “real neighborhoods” are fleeing their homes because of high taxes how can the downtown become a neighborhood? If the downtown begins an organic transition just who will transform it and who will pay for it? Will the downtown become a series of dorms and frat houses or absentee landlords? Will the downtown become a series of factories? And just how will The Chamber attract new businesses to a decaying downtown when it has been hard pressed to do otherwise in industrial centers?
Durkin’s statement is breathtaking in its vagueness. More questions should be asked by city residents as to what “organic transition” means to them. They are paying most of the freight, not The Chamber. 

MARIO CUOMO DIES

Former Governor Mario Cuomo. (Photo: New York Times).

The former three term Governor of New York Mario Cuomo passed away on New Year’s Day just a few hours after his son Andrew was sworn in for a second term in the office his father once held. Cuomo was often mentioned as a potential Presidential candidate. When it seemed that he might be the most viable candidate to take on George Herbert Walker Bush in 1992, he declined.
Cuomo was a mainstay in New York politics. He began his political career by running for Lt. Governor in 1974 but was defeated by Mary Anne Krupsak, an upstate Senator. In 1977 he ran in a crowded primary field for Mayor and was defeated by Congressman Ed Koch because of his opposition to the death penalty and a whispering campaign that was attributed to his group using the slogan, "Vote Cuomo, not the homo". (Koch wasn’t married, he was a lifelong bachelor and the knock on Cuomo was that he did not denounce the slight loudly enough. The next year when Krupsak decided to challenge Carey in the primary, the Governor tabbed Cuomo to be the Lt. Governor. Both won big and in a 1982 rematch Cuomo beat Koch, then an incumbent Mayor and went on to win three terms.
Cuomo had issues as Governor. A full fledged liberal, Cuomo was hampered by a sluggish economy which did not give him the opportunity to expand social programs like he would have wanted. But that did not diminish his rhetoric and the passion he held for his beliefs. They were showcased in full display at the 1984 Democratic convention in San Francisco when he attacked the myth of the Reagan “Shining City On the Hill”.

After losing to a little know State Senator, George Pataki, Cuomo did a radio show and as a frequent guest on various news programs was both eloquent and entertaining. One of the things I loved about Cuomo was the way he would call out his opposition by asking the simple question, “What do you mean by that?” I learned a valuable lesson because my experience has been that most people who spout off are hard pressed to credibly defend their thoughts. Nowadays, mainly because they usually belong to someone else.
Cuomo loved baseball and was actually drafted by the Pirates. An injury led him into another more consequential career. The big mystery of Mario Cuomo is this, “If he had taken the chance, if he had taken that leap in 1992, what type of candidate would he have been? His “Hamlet On the Hudson” persona, when he dithered and then chose not to run, is why we will never know the answer to that question. But I think in some small way, Mario Cuomo, who both embraced and degraded politics (“What an ugly business we’re in” he was quoted as saying) would enjoy the fact that even in death, as his accomplishments are lauded, we still have shreds of mystery in who he was and what made him tick.

MEDIA MATTERS

SUNDAY MAGAZINE

This Week on Sunday Magazine
Brian Hughes speaks with David Yonki, Editor of the LuLac Political Letter blog about the Top Local Stories of 2014, ranging from Eric Frein, to corruption in Luzerne County to financial woes in Scranton to the election of a new Pennsylvania governor.

An encore of Brian's November interview with Kathy Bromage about a recent survey on small businesses.
Sunday Magazine, Sunday morning at 5am on NASH-FM, 93.7, 5:30am on 97BHT, 6am on 97.9X & Sports Radio 590, WARM, and 6:25am on Magic 93.

BEATLEDD IN REVIEW

The Beatledd Radio Hour did a year in review video. Beatldd is on WRKC FM 88.5 every Friday night at 7pm and is also heard on the web throughout the world. Which is why it is on The World Wide web.

ECTV

The history of the University of Scranton is the subject of a new book which will be discussed on ECTV Live during the week of January 5th. Hosts David DeCosmo and Rusty Fender will welcome Frank X. Homer, Ph.D., professor emeritus of history at The University of Scranton to talk about the publication and the University's relationship with the community. ECTV Live can be seen on Comcast Channel 19 (61 in some areas) and the program is broadcast several times a day during the week around Noon, Midnight and, on selected days, at 6pm.

BOLD GOLD COMMUNITY FORUM

This week on Community Forum agricultural broadcaster Dave Williams discusses the 99th Pennsylvania Farm Show. Mike Remish hosts Sunday morning at 6 on 94.3 The Talker; 6:30 on NEPA's Sports Radio-The Game 1340/1400/1440 am and 100.7/106.7 fm; and 7:30 on 105 The River.

SUE HENRY’S SPECIAL EDITION

Tune in to Sue Henry's "Special Edition" this week as Sue recaps the week's news. Special Edition is heard Saturdays and Sunday on these Entercom stations, WILK FM Saturday at 2pm Sunday at 6 am on Froggy 101 Sunday at 7 am on The Sports Hub 102.3 Sunday at 7 am on K R Z 98.5 Sunday at noon on WILK FM 103.1.

BUDDY RUMCHEK

Want to hear some great parodies on the news? Tune in to WILK Radio at 6:40 and 8:40 AM on Mondays. As Ralph Cramden used to say, “It’s a laugh riot!”

KAREL ON THE STREET

Tune in Wednesdays on WILK Radio for Karel on the Street. Hear some of the funniest and heartwarming comments on the issues of the day on Webster and Nancy with Karel Zubris.

CORBETT’S SOMEBODY’S WATCHING ME

Every Wednesday at 5PM, Steve Corbett shines the light on a Public official with his “Somebody’s Watching Me” segment. Corbett picks an alleged public servant to eye ball and observe. Batten down the lawn furniture in the driveway and that e mail machine. There is nowhere to hide when “somebody’s Watching”. Wednesdays at 5 on WILK’s Corbett program.

Our 1965 logo.

1965

Canadian ship SS Catala is driven onto the beach in Ocean Shores, Washington, stranding her……U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson proclaims his "Great Society" during his State of the Union address…….The Mirzapur Cadet College formally opens for academic activities in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh)………50 years ago this week, as a matter of fact five decades ago today, the New York Jets signed Joe Namath to a contract to be their starting QB......... In Pennsylvania Senator Hugh Scott is sworn in for his second term as a United States Senator……in Scranton incumbent Mayor Bill Schmidt indicates he will stand for another term as Mayor of Scranton….and 50 years ago this week the number one song in LuLac land and America was “I Feel Fine” by The Beatles.