Finzi, Krommer, Schumann End Chamber Season

Finzi, Krommer, Schumann End Chamber Season

By Joseph B. Dychala

The final Delaware County Symphony chamber concert performance is Sunday, April 2 at 3 p.m. The concert takes place at Neumann University in the Meagher Theater in The Bruder Life Center. Ample free parking is provided.

The program includes selections from Finzi, Krommer and Schumann. Opening the afternoon is three of the Five Bagatelles for Clarinet and Piano by Gerald Finzi followed by Concerto for Two Clarinets in E-flat Major by Franz Krommer. The afternoon concludes with Piano Quintet in E-flat Major by Robert Schumann. Featured performer Arnold Ostroff will be playing the Steinway Concert Grand with Michael Berton on cello.

Tickets may be purchased day of show for $12 each with a special two for one promotion for Delaware and Montgomery County library members upon presenting their library card. Tickets for students and seniors are discounted to $10 each. As always, any child twelve years or under receives free admission with an accompanying paid adult. This is an excellent way to bring the classics to a new generation of listeners.

The final full orchestra concert performance will conclude the 2016 – 2017 concert season on April 30 and feature selections from Shostakovich, Franck, Elgar and Tchaikovsky.

Finzi, Krommer, Schumann End Chamber Season

Anti-Science Rules Academia

Anti-Science Rules Academia — A Penn prof has found that almost all papers published by scientific journals are propaganda.

Only one-tenth of 1 percent of the published works conform to the scientific method says J. Scott Armstrong, a professor of Marketing at the Wharton School. He says the criteria is well established  yet the works claiming to authoritatively reveal truths about nature blithely ignore them.

Why? Follow the money. Getting bucks in academia means telling those who control the grants what they want. Hence, bizarre claims ranging from sexual norms to falling skies are made by highly credentialed people causing policy to be emplaced impoverishing ourselves while enriching the connected.

Armstrong says there is a bright spot though.  Public Library of Science One actually follows scientific principles and has become the largest journal based on papers published.

Anti-Science Rules Academia

Anti-Science Rules Academia

 

 

Clean Slate Legislation Explained

Clean Slate Legislation Explained

Clean Slate Legislation ExplainedBy Sen. Scott Wagner

I recently announced that I am the prime co-sponsor of “Clean Slate Legislation” with Senator Anthony Williams.

Some people have asked for an explanation of the legislation and why I am introducing it. 

First, it is important to point out that this legislation will affect non-violent criminal offenses only.

At my company, when an applicant is filling out our job application, we have a question on our application that asks if they have ever pled guilty, pled no contest, or been convicted of a crime.

We do not judge the person based on a yes response, and in many instances we may hire the person.

There are many companies that ask the same question on their job applications as we do, if the question is answered yes, the application is automatically not considered.

It is estimated that three million or more Pennsylvanians have non-violent crimes on their criminal records.

Here is an example of a non-violent crime which stays on a person’s record for their lifetime.

Today, there is a 40 year old man who lives in Pennsylvania, and at age 18 he was arrested for having a small quantity of marijuana in his possession, which resulted in a misdemeanor level criminal charge.

In this case, 22 years ago this person made a mistake and has carried this crime from 22 years ago with him to this day. 

Other misdemeanor examples would be a DUI charge (Driving Under the Influence) or a minor theft of something valued under a specific dollar amount. 

Now this person has the opportunity to attend a trade school to learn how to weld, and potentially increase his annual earnings by 40 percent. 

There is a company in the area that is hiring welders and the company will pay for the tuition at a trade school to allow this person to become a trained welder, but they do not hire people that have past criminal offenses.

It is critical for everyone to know that there will be a lot of debate about this legislation, and it may pass if members of the legislature become educated on the issue, or it may not receive enough support and fail.

There are a large number of people who are affected by this issue and I am sure there are many people who have a family member or a friend who has also been affected.

At our company, we do not want people to lie on our applications, but instead be able to be honest, so that they have fair consideration for employment.

We want to give the person applying for a job at our company the same opportunity as an applicant who does not have a criminal record.

The process today is for this person to hire an attorney to clear their record, which can be expensive with no guarantee that the offense will be removed.

The legislation I am introducing and co-sponsoring would be an automatic process where the person’s record is sealed, and no court petition would be required. 

The Clean State Legislation that we are introducing has the following provisions.  

This is a very important provision: for the process of sealing the persons record, they MUST have a period of 10 years that is crime free from the date of their offense that is to be sealed, and all court obligations must have been fulfilled – there are zero exceptions.

When the clean slate process is complete, criminal history will remain on record and can then only be accessed by law enforcement authorities and the record would be removed from public view.  

We are working with law enforcement agencies and District Attorneys to address any issues or concerns they may have. 

If the person’s record is cleared and they are charged with a crime in the future, their record is reversed and unsealed. 

There are many details to be finalized.

My job as a Senator, is to introduce responsible legislation which has the opportunity to improve the lives of hardworking Pennsylvanians.

While this piece of legislation may be perceived as risky by some people, I view it as an opportunity to address a very large issue in Pennsylvania.

If this legislation would become law, it has the potential to change the lives of hardworking people who are trying to provide for their families and create a better life for their children.

This is one of the reasons I have decided to run for Governor of Pennsylvania. 

I am ready to put party politics aside, provide leadership, and address real problems in order to improve the lives of Pennsylvanians. 

I felt that people having concerns regrading my intent with this legislation should hear my reasoning for being a part of this effort. 

Sen. Wagner represents the 28th District in the Pennsylvania Senate.

Clean Slate Legislation Explained

William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 3-28-17

Money doesn’t smell is a phrase with Roman roots namely the Latin Pecunia non olet.

Urine was valuable. It was collected from public toilets and sold to tanners. The sale was taxed.

The Emporer Vespasian’s son Titus expressed his disgusted at the concept. Vespasian had him smell a gold coin. “Does it smell?” Vespasian asked? Titus said no. “Yet it comes from urine,” Vespasian said.

And from that exchange comes the phrase.

William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 3-28-17

Money doesn't smell is a phrase with Roman roots namely the Latin Pecunia non olet.

Health Care Basics Must Be Recognized By GOP

Health Care Basics Must Be Recognized By GOP — With the Republican health care reform in a mess, we’d like to suggest getting back to the basics with regard to principles and purpose.

Health insurance is not health care. “Insurance” does not insure your health, something that should be blindingly obvious. What it does is to insure that the doctors and other medical professionals get paid.

The purpose of public health is to minimize the need for care yet provide it when needed for those who cannot pay what medical professionals ask as going rates.

Minimizing the need includes things like sanitary sewer systems, draining swamps and discouraging pointless risky behavior such as that which spreads HIV. One of the first steps in getting back to basics is to stop being afraid to point this out.

When care is needed, an insurance policy is not the only means to do so. Bill Gates and Warren Buffet would be silly to have an insurance policy. They can easily cover anything that might happen to them out of pocket.

For those who aren’t billionaires, places like Philadelphia General Hospital existed in the last century to provide free care to the desperate. Of course there was no incentive to maintain them and a huge incentive to use them as dumping grounds so their demise was practically ordained.

Free markets cannot be mocked.

Step two concerning back to the basics is to recognize that health care is provided by people not governments, corporations or bureaucracies. Maximizing health care means maximizing the number of competent people who can provide it and giving them an incentive to do so to all comers.

Money is obviously going to be a factor even for the most saintly, but except for the most vile — and they are rare — it is not going to be the only factor. Social rewards are almost as important. Most successful people will discount services to those who can’t afford what they normally charge. Most will even do charity work — unless, of course, regulation and time available prevent them. You doubt this happens ponder that retired doctors can’t work part-time without still carrying malpractice insurance.

An OB/GYN pays about $20,000 per year for it.  Insurance companies will discount about 50 percent for part-timers. A $10,000 per year nut to cover would certainly put a damper on a doctor wanting to occasionally help out at a charity hospital for $50 per hour.

And no amount of money is going to keep someone from bailing out when the job stops being fun and they no longer need it. One of the biggest complaints doctors have is mandated paper work either by government or an insurance carrier.

And this gets us to insurance companies. An insurance company is a business that seeks to spread risk while making a profit. The top executives at these places easily surpass six figures. Do they earn it? Probably not but that’s not their fault. With government mandates for  features not necessarily wanted by all customers (substance abuse counseling, birth control) and restrictions on competition, they can do a lot of coasting. Call it the joys of cronyism.

Insurance companies have a use and they are not inherently bad. The Trump plan to open competition across state lines is excellent. We don’t have an objection either to a mandate for individuals to carry it. Public health has a cost and its better for people to be allowed to choose their coverage rather than leave the decision to government agents who will inevitably pocket as much of it as they can if funded via a traditional tax.

Regardless, it must be remembered that it is people who provide health care and not bureaucracies. Forgetting this while ignoring that bureaucracies inevitably become corrupt are the biggest failings of doomed Obamacare.

Health Care Basics Must Be Recognized By GOP

Health Care Basics Must Be Recognized By GOP Health Care Basics

William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 3-27-17

Who was Frankie Baker and what did he do? Well, Frankie was a she and at 2 a.m., Oct. 15, 1899 she shot her lover Allen Britt who had just won a cakewalk dance contest with Nelly Bly. Allen’s name was changed to Johnny for the song.  It should be noted that the Nelly Bly that Allen danced with was not Elizabeth Cochran Seaman the reporter from Chochran’s Mills Pa. who used that as her pen name.

Here’s Big Bill Broonzy’s version:

William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 3-27-17

Who was Frankie Baker and what did he do? Well, Frankie was a she and at 2 a.m., Oct. 15, 1899 she shot her lover Allen Britt who had just won a cakewalk dance contest with Nelly Bly.