The LuLac Edition #480, May 17th, 2008

PHOTO INDEX: WILK'S STEVE CORBETT, DR. JOSEPH LEONARDI, THE PLAYWRIGHT OF "LUCKY FOR YOU', PAUL KOMENSKY CIRCA 1968 WITH HIS LATE MOTHER HELEN CLAIRE TO THE RIGHT, A REPRISE OF "LUCKY FOR YOU" DONE IN JUNE AT THE ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST GRADE SCHOOL GRADUATION CEREMONIES, PICTURED ARE JOSEPH WHITE, DAVID YONKI, THE LATE PATRICIA BOBBOUINE, JANET POLANSKY, (NOW DR. JANET) SUSAN HARMONOUS AND ROSEMARY OCHREITER, AND THE ORIGINAL CAST PRODUCTION OF "LUCKY FOR YOU" PRESENTED ON MAY 19th 1968, PICTURED FROM LEFT TO RIGHT ARE JOSEPH WHITE, STAGE MANAGER ROBERT HIZNY, DAVID YONKI, JANET POLANSKY, THE LATE PATRICIA BOBBOUINE AND ROSEMARY OCHREITER.

AND THEY’RE OFF!

Just two weeks after the Kentucky Derby it appears the Presidential candidates, including President Bush are off to the races using Foreign policy as a linchpin. Only Hillary Clinton seems to be sticking to domestic issues. Let’s start with Senator McCain.
While speaking to the National Rifle Association in Louisville, McCain responded to Obama’s remarks earlier today.
“I welcome a debate about protecting America,” McCain said. “No issue is more important. Sen. Obama claimed all I had to offer was the ‘naive and irresponsible belief’ that tough talk would cause Iran to give up its nuclear program. He should know better.
“I have some news for Sen. Obama: Talking, not even with soaring rhetoric, in unconditional meetings with the man who calls Israel a ‘stinking corpse’ and arms terrorist who kill Americans will not convince Iran to give up its nuclear program. It is reckless to suggest that unconditional meetings will advance our interests.
“It would be a wonderful thing if we lived in a world where we don't have enemies. But that is not the world we live in, and until Sen. Obama understands that reality, the American people have every reason to doubt whether he has the strength, judgment, and determination to keep us safe.”
McCain’s remarks come on the heels of President Bush telling the Israeli Parliament that you just can’t talk to terrorists. Meanwhile Obama rebuked Republican rival McCain and President Bush for "dishonest, divisive" attacks in hinting that the Democratic presidential candidate would appease terrorists, staunchly defending his national security credentials for the general election campaign.
Obama responded Friday to Bush's speech Thursday to the Israeli Knesset. The president referred to the leader of Iran, who has called for the destruction of the U.S. ally, and then said some seem to believe that we should negotiate with terrorists and radicals — comments Obama and Democrats said were directed at them. McCain subsequently said Obama must explain why he wants to talk with rogue leaders.
Senator Clinton continued focusing her campaign on domestic issues sprinkling in a little foreign policy talk at a jab at President Bush and the Republicans. Clinton ratcheted up her criticism of President Bush today, mocking him for simply “begging” Saudi Arabia to increase oil supplies rather than having a real plan to deal with the energy crisis.
“I don’t think it is a good energy policy to depend upon the kindness of the Saudis … while businesses and individuals are trying to figure out how they’re going to afford nearly $4 a gallon gas and nearly $5 a gallon diesel,” she said. “The impact is really beginning to ripple dramatically through the economy.” Clinton’s comments came during a roundtable discussion with local residents about a host of problems facing the country today, primarily economic ones.

OPERATION TURNDOWN

WILK talk show host Steve Corbett is going wild and it appears no one is going to stop him. Corbett, in a parody of Rush’s Limbaugh’s operation to have GOP voters choose Hillary has now started his own “Operation Turndown”. But it isn’t a parody or a joke. Corbett is garnering national attention, getting callers from across the country who are tuning in to the WILK website (c’mon you sales guys, start selling more ads on that site!) and getting people of all stripes to voice their displeasure with the Democratic party. Corbett as well as others contend that Senator Clinton has gotten a bad shake from the party leadership and that she has been treated shabbily. But the only thing wrong with that logic is that Obama was the “outsider” and Clinton was “the insider”. That said, it doesn’t seem to matter to Corbett and his people who are telling him that they will do the following:
1. Write in Senator Clinton’s name in the general election.
2. Vote for John McCain.
3. Not vote at all.
Usually a talk show topic lasts a day or so, Corbett has been beating this drum at full thump and indications are he’s getting some national attention. The reaction to “Operation Turndown” points to a few flaws in the Obama campaign, while he has a great deal of supporters, heck, almost half of the voters in the party, Senator Clinton has the other half. They are getting angry, resentful and loud. The Democratic party is going to have to deal with Senator Clinton and her vocal supporters. With the fact that the Senator will not stop running, a rumbling that the GOP has something big on Obama that they will unleash in the fall campaign and this intense loyalty to her campaign, it is more evident that ever that the Clinton forces must be dealt with either before or during the Denver convention. “Operation Turndown” has all the potential to morph into “Operation Turn Off”.

JOE, SAY IT AIN’T SO

One of the best political and practical minds in the area as well as a very principled candidate for public office is going to take a hiatus from opinionating. Dr. Joseph Leonardi, who much to the dismay of many was never given substantial funding to run against Paul Kanjorski in 2006. When Leonardi tried to share his considerable political knowledge with the local media on a part time basis, they chose to take chances on people less informed, less talented and certainly more annoying. Their loss. Anyway, a lot of people think I’m in the tank for Joe, the fact is when he first heard of me, he wanted to sue me. And our ideas are diverse but we agree on the right to each other’s beliefs and opinions. Our disagreements actually brought us together as friends. I looked at us as two old polliticos arguing to the death, then going for a couple of blasts after we both got it out of our systems. All that said, here’s the last edition Dr. Leonardi's blog, here's the link: http://www.joeleonardi.wordpress.com/ .

1968

This week in May - "May of ‘68" is a symbol of the resistance of that generation. Agitations and strikes in Paris lead many youth to believe that a revolution is starting. Student and worker strikes, sometimes referred to as the French May, nearly bring down the French government......The Israel Broadcasting Authority commences television broadcasts.............The Beatles annnounce the creation of Apple Records in a New York press conference…..in Harrisburg, Governor Shafrer announced that the Appalachian Regional Commission approved $300,000 for the three million dollar Hazleton Vo-Tech School…..in Wilkes Barre City Manager Fredrick Wegner begins his first round of debates about the future of the city with Council….in Scranton Mayor James Walsh finalizes plans for the renovation of the pool at Nay Aug Park….at St. John the Baptist School, an original play, “Lucky For You” written by class vice president Paul Komensky debuts. The cast includes Class President David Yonki who has a solo with the old Depression era tune, “Hallelujah I’m A Bum” . Komensky got this song from the Alan Lomax collection. Lomax received a government grant to catalogue American songs written by the likes of Woody Guthrie. Cast member Janet Polansky and Rosemary Ochreiter sang “Dear Companions”, a take off of the “Bosom Buddies” from “Mame”, Komensky felt that the word “bosom” would be censored by the school administration. There was a nun in the cast played by the late Patricia Bobbouine but for the life of us we can’t remember why the role was there. From “Mame” David Yonki and the cast sang “Tomorrow Belongs To Me” and Komensky put in his original composition “Life Is But A Dream”. The play was put on because the school and cafeteria were recently remodeled with the piano even being given a new coat of paint. Tragedy almost struck when playwright Komensky’s fingers got stuck in his father’s grocery truck's sliding door shattering a few bones and tendons in his piano playing fingers. Hs mother, Helen Claire Komensky played the piano while her son directed. The culmination of the play came when cast member Joseph White informs the main character that he’s part of a family and all is well. After the show, Father Super entertained the crowd of parents and children with his rendition of “The Swiss Miss Song,” here is a snippet of the lyrics, “I miss the bliss my Swiss Miss gave to me….”
Wardrobe came from our grandparents leftover clothes although I see from the pictures I was wearing a yellow Batman shirt. To this day, forty years after the play, Paul nor I have any idea how he talked me into doing something like this but I can’t help but think it had something to do with my seventh grade girl friend. Anyway, after my theatrical debut and finale, I went home, changed, rode my bike to a hotdog stand in the Junction and ordered myself a hoagie and then called my seventh grade girlfriend from a pay phone with the change…..and forty years ago this week, the number 1 song in America and LuLac land was “A Beautiful Morning” by the Rascals. From You Tube, here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgF2K-FXDyg&feature=related