The LuLac Edition #2814, January 10th, 2015

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MAYBE I’M AMAZED

MAYBE I’M AMAZED……that the Tea Party decided NOT to oppose Speaker Boehner with one candidate as he sought his third term as Speaker but THREE! Are you kidding me? This is totally what’s wrong with The Tea Party. They would rather lose and think they make a point rather than win and govern. Not that there was any chance of that but political strategy sometimes reflects how a party or entity will govern.
MAYBE I’M AMAZED….that despite 58 continued months of job growth, unemployment at about 5% and labor participation ticking up, there are still elements of America that says the economy is still bad. I’ll agree that it is not perfect. Job wages have stayed stagnant, especially in this area. BUT to say we are going in the wrong direction economically is just plain silly.
MAYBE I’M AMAZED…..that Speaker Boehner actually took on one of his foes for his job, Congressman Daniel Webster from Florida was on the powerful House Rules committee. Now he’s not. I am amazed because in this Washington I have not seen any leader exact any type of accountability for people who cross someone in power.
MAYBE I’M AMAZED……that this week The Wall Street Journal reported that there is now a new cottage industry called “Cuddling”. You rent yourself out for $80.00 an hour to cuddle with a lonely person. Overnight, $400.00. Cuddling. On some days I have at work………I think………where do I sign up?
MAYBE I’M AMAZED……..at the dust up created by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie jumping up and down in the Dallas Cowboys owners box with Jerry Jones after the ‘Boys came from behind to beat The Detroit Lions. At first I wasn’t sure it was him. The reason is Christie has always been chest thumping about how New Jersey has both NFL teams and New York does not. Surely I thought he was a fan of one of those teams. But no, he’s a Dallas fan. I know the orange sweater was his lucky sports vestment but that added to the confusion because that garb was definitely a Denver color. Let him jump, let him have some joy. The ‘Boys are back. At least until tomorrow afternoon when they play The Pack. But with Aaron Rodgers hurting, I take nothing for granted.
MAYBE I’M AMAZED………that this past week saw the 200th anniversary of The Battle of New Orleans. This fight made the legend of Andrew Jackson. It started on December 23rd 1814 and ended on January 8th 1814 and was essentially the last battle of the War of 1812. The plan by the British was to cross the Mississippi River and then storm the barricades set up by the U.S. A British Colonel forgot to bring ladders that would enable the British to scale the earth walls set up. They were pretty much sitting ducks and the rest as they say is history. Here’s the great Johnny Horton’s version of events.

MAYBE I’M AMAZED……….that in Florida George Zimmerman was arrested for Assault. This is the guy acquitted in the Trevon Martin case a few years ago. When that happened Mrs. LuLac said he would be back on the scene in a criminal complaint. And he is. At some point, and this is my prediction here, Zimmerman will become O.J. Simpson. He will be in jail. However, not the for the crime most people thought he should have been incarcerated for.
MAYBE I'M AMAZED......at how L.A. Tarone handled the barrage of calls the other night when he had on Luzerne County Councilman Jim Bobeck on his radio show. The show started out on the topic of the user fees for vehicles proposed by Council. Then the program went off into many different directions and detours. Kathy Dobash was doing a post celebration of Festivus bringing up grievances that may have been legit but won''t exactly germane to the show, Edd Brominski called and seemed to have a good give and take with Bobeck, Walter Griffith called as well as others including me toward the end of the show to support the vehicle fee idea. Bobeck was both polite and skilled in displaying his knowledge about this entire process. The entire show was summed up by Duke from Dallas who made the point that the only way Luzerne County can dig itself out is to make hard choices. He pointed out that money is tight on the Federal and State level. That point reminded me of Paul Kanjorski's mantra from a few years back when he said that when the Federal government and State leaves the care of citizens to local government, that local government must get the money from somewhere. It had to be one of the most listened to shows that night because everybody seemed to be talking about it the next day.
MAYBE I’M AMAZED………but not really at how much fun Vice President Joe Biden seems to have at the swearing in ceremonies for the new Senators. Biden is not dour and really makes everyone coming in with the Senators feel like a million bucks. The man has a large personality to be sure but I think a large part of this joy at this occasion has to do with the fact that when Biden was sworn into the Senate for the first time in 1973, it was in a hospital room as he stood vigil over his sons who were injured in a car crash a month before. A crash that killed his wife and baby.
MAYBE I’M AMAZED……that even though his wife seems to be against a Mitt Romney run for President, he reportedly told donors he might want to make a third try. In the meantime Jeb Bush has all but picked out the campaign colors starting a money raising pack. Then there’s former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee who has strong support among the religious right. Huckabee has been on Fox News and not politically active But it is telling that he has strong polling numbers in Iowa and the Carolinas, two states that can muck up any moderate Republicans hope of getting an early insurmountable lead. Huckabee might also have to deal with the Santorum factor. If former Senator Rick Santorum runs, that might split that segment of the party. Going to be interesting.
MAYBE I’M AMAZED…that President Obama wants to make College available for every young person through the Community College system. I think it is a good thing but will be amazed if it gets through. However the one aspect of it I disagree with is the maintenance of the Grade point average. He wants a C plus marker. Which is just average. I think he should set the bar a tad higher or else we will have a plethora of young people being educated with just an average grade. The bar needs to be higher. We’re already behind.