News, Entertainment, Enlightenment
William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 7-11-15
Chimpanzees eat children, it has been reported. The animals apparently get drunk off of alcohol snatched from rural brewing operations and mistake the children for the red colobus monkey that is one of their favorite meals.
The Delaware County Daily Times, today, July 11, included in the AP story regarding the removal of the Confederate flag from the South Carolina Capitol grounds the twistedly disingenuous and curious claim that the flag “had been defended by white Republican leaders until last month as a symbol of Southern pride.”
Of course, the article omitted any reference to the party that raised the flag nor did it bother to note the party to which Gov. Nikki Haley belonged.
So here is some history. The flag was raised in 1962 over the State Capitol in Columbia by Gov. Ernest Hollings, a liberal Democrat, to defend segregation and Jim Crow. Hollings would go on to become a U.S. senator and would serve in the Senate until 2005. He was a friend and supporter of Bill and Hillary Clinton and the progressive big government agenda.
In 1996, conservative Republican Gov. David Beasley made a strong push to remove the flag. He failed to win re-election in 1998 because of it. The die-hard sons of the Confederacy pointedly stayed home while the progressives and their tools in the Black establishment supported his opponent, Jim Hodges, who said he would keep the flag where it was.
Hodges, after much national pressure, agreed to remove the flag from the Capitol dome in 2000 to a monument on the State House grounds.
And there it flew until yesterday when it was removed for good in response to the June 17 Charlestown shootings. The removal was demanded by Gov. Haley, a Republican, and without outside pressure. It was overwhelmingly approved by the overwhelmingly Republican legislature.
The hate from and the lies told by the old media about those whose politics differ from the reporters, photographers, editors and newsreaders are poisoning this country.
An old utility pole makes for an interesting and delightful planter that is sure to be the talk of the neighborhood — especially if you can find one with the hand holds.
To make one, first find a utility pole. This is much more difficult than it sounds. While utility poles are quite common — one may be as close as your sidewalk — cutting one down is very illegal and doing so could result in arrest, fines, restitution, and possibly even a jail sentence.
That’s assuming you survive the electric shock.
A good way to acquire one is wait for a major storm and have it fall on your classic car. 
Then wait for the emergency crew to turn off the power to it, cut it up and leave it as they have no room for it on their truck. Pick an appropriate sized piece, dig a hole a foot or so deep, put the pole in it, hang some begonias on the hand holds and voila you’re the envy of the community.
William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 7-10-15
The first successful appendectomy was performed in Iowa in 1885.
We put this article out a few minutes ago but we are now significantly revising it as it has just been pointed out to us that the name on the letterhead is misspelled as is the signature. The proper spelling is Whelan. So we got ourselves a scandal. Was it sent out by the Esler or Krueger-Braneky campaigns just to make the Mullen campaign look really stupid? Hardly. 
But it is real clear that the Delaware County District Attorney didn’t write it himself.
So Mr. District Attorney do you know your name is being used in the 161st District race and rather poorly at that?
The letter — which claims to be “From the Desk of Jack Whalen” and identifies itself as being paid for by the HRCC — has “Jack Whalen Delaware County District Attorney” claiming that “Paul Mullen is a fiscal conservative” and “We can trust he will be an independent voice for us.”
OK Mr. “Whalen” if Mullen is such a “fiscal conservative” why did he support Joe Sestak, Barack Obama, Bob Casey and John Kane?
Why is John Kane supporting him in this election?
Fiscal conservative? Do we really need to say LOL here?
Fortunately, there is someone in the race who is a fiscal conservative and has been a consistent Republican; and who understands why property taxes keep rising like floodwater and knows what to do to stop it.
That is Penn Delco School Board Director Lisa Esler.
She explains herself in her campaign letter:
Dear Neighbor,
My name is Lisa Esler and I am the WRITE-IN candidate for State Representative in the special election that will be held on August 4th. I am a wife, mother, grandmother, certified optician, and a school board director. Why am I doing this? Because in my role as a school board director, I have seen how Harrisburg has become tainted with special interest groups and lobbyists, leaving the taxpayer without representation.
If elected, I will be a Representative who speaks for the people in this district – not for the special interest groups with deep pockets who use money and power to stifle any meaningful reforms. As your voice, I will push hard for common sense solutions for the problems we face. For example, we have a looming pension crisis that drives your property taxes up every year and will cost taxpayers dearly for years to come. I want to join with the other like-minded legislators to work toward fixing that broken system.
I am not a career politician and do not intend to become one. I am not seeking this office to become wealthy on the backs of the taxpayers. If elected, I pledge not to take part in the pension system that is bankrupting you and our Commonwealth.
People have lost faith in their leaders and in the system. I hope I can restore some of that faith. You see my integrity and reputation mean a lot more to me than any political office.
Remember, I am not “endorsed” and therefore my name is not on the ballot. That is why I am asking you to WRITE-IN my name on the ballot. “How-To instructions” will be available at the polls on Election Day, Tuesday, August 4th.
I would be honored to have your support and your vote on August 4th.
If you have any questions or would like to help with my campaign, please call me at 484-995-1540.
Thank you in advance for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Lisa Esler
The 161st seat was vacated in April by Republican Joe Hackett and a special election has been scheduled for Aug. 4. The official Democrat in the race is Leanne Krueger-Braneky.
Thomas Menier was the only participant of tonight’s (July 9) independent presidential candidate’s forum sponsored by Democracy Unplugged and held at Swarthmore Borough Hall.
Menier drove up from Cape Coral, Fla. to participate.
He described himself as a Vietnam veteran who served many years overseas as a contractor for the Army Corps of Engineers including 18 months in Afghanistan.
“I met some wonderful people in the Middle East,” he said. “I met some pretty radical people in the Middle East.”
He said he was motivated to run for the nation’s highest office by the decline in the American economy.
“The truth is when you fall off unemployment, you are not counted anymore,” he said.
He said one friend has not had a full time job in seven years and is scraping to support a family doing part-time work.
He blames both parties for the problem and was especially critical of the recent trade treaty. He claimed that Walmart was able to see details that were kept from legislators.
He said he knows that weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq, and expressed a fear that many not found or destroyed could be smuggled into the United States.
Menier can be reached at Menier.Thomas@gmail.com
The event, Declaration of Independents 2015, was moderated by Owen Powell.
While Morrison Bonpasse was unable to attend he left a flyer describing his platform which included stopping and correcting wrongful convictions in the United States; zero population growth and a single global currency.
William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 7-9-15
Rain barrels are illegal in Colorado.
By Sen. Scott Wagner
The question of the week has been – how is the budget coming along?
The budget question has come in by email, telephone calls and by people that I have talked to face to face.
The answer is very simple – the budget process is at a complete standstill.
The Pennsylvania House and Senate passed a balanced budget on June 30th – even before the balanced budget reached the Governor’s desk he was issuing statements that he was going to veto the budget – within two hours of the budget reaching his desk – without any extensive review or discussions with the House and Senate – Governor Wolf vetoed the budget.
For a recap – the 2014-15 budget was $29,142,312,000 (Billion) – the proposed / balanced 2015-16 budget is $30,179,476,000 (Billion) an increase of $1,037,164,000 (Billion) or a 3.6% increase over the 2014-15 budget.
The budget passed was a responsible budget that did not increase taxes.
So one would ask where is the additional $1,037,164,000 (Billion) coming from ?
Here is the answer:
Stronger state revenues of $412.2 Million as of June 30th for the past twelve months, $200 million in additional revenue through liquor reforms, structural reform to the pension system which is the number one cost driver for the state and school districts – a combined total equal to approximately the one billion dollar budget increase.
On Tuesday July 7th John Micek a reporter for the Patriot News wrote a story titled “The PA Budget is among the priciest in the nation” – click on the link for the full story.
There are two bullet points in the article that jump out and grab your attention.
Point #1 – “Despite proposed cuts to some corporate taxes, Wolf’s proposed $4.5 billion tax package is the largest in the nation, the study found. The administration’s plan raises $1.5 billion from a higher personal income tax and $2.3 billion from a higher (and expanded) state sales tax.”
Point # 2 – “While other states consider a host of measures — from workforce cuts to Lottery expansion – to manage costs, Pennsylvania stands nearly alone in not employing any cost-control measures.”
The take away for readers – Governor Wolf’s tax increase is the largest in the nation and Governor Wolf is not doing anything about managing costs.
So what is Governor Wolf doing to solve the budget impasse?
Today as I write this email Governor Wolf is visiting a school district in Southeast PA promoting his budget and more public school spending….and….Governor Wolf is hitting the airwaves via TV ads funded by the National Democratic Governors Association who have in turn received contributions from public sector unions to criticize House and Senate Republicans over the budget.
Let me be loud and clear – “PA DOES NOT have a revenue problem – it has a spending problem.”
Instead of sitting at the negotiating table today with House and Senate leaders Governor Wolf is out of the office acting like he is running a political campaign.
I am a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee – this past March and April I personally sat through 33 budget hearings ranging from 1.5 hours to 3.5 hours – at least 80 – 100 hours of hearings.
As I have stated before, Senate Appropriations Chairman Pat Browne, who is a tax attorney and CPA, has done a commendable job leading the budget process.
I would be remiss if I did not also recognize all Senate Appropriations Committee members and Appropriations staff for their efforts.
In addition – I am a private sector business owner with over 35 years of private sector experience who has survived in business because I had to fully understand the concept of revenue and expenses, and how to read a financial statement inside and out.
Governor Wolf believes the solution to solve the budget issue is to allow his administration to discredit and insult Republicans via TV ads paid for by public sector unions and press releases from his office.
As always – I want feedback from my readers – if you are OK with tax increases please send me an email telling me so.
Thank You,
Scott Wagner
P.S. I just learned in the last 30 minutes that Governor Wolf announced that he intends to veto SB1 – the pension reform bill – so Governor Wolf will be 3 for 3 – he vetoed the budget, liquor store privatization and pension reform is next.
Sen. Wagner represents the 28th District in the Pennsylvania Senate.
The National Park Service’s National Center for Preservation Technology and Training tells us they have released $427,000 in grants.
This includes $40,000 for Penn State to study “Probabilistic Modeling of Energy Use and Air Quality in Historic Buildings.”
In a totally unrelated issue, former Penn State President Rodney Erickson is getting a public pension of $477,591 and former Penn State Vice President Gary “What Child Molestation?” Schultz is getting a public pension of $330,699.
And our national debt is now $18.3 trillion.
Actress Farrah Fawcett inspired Midnight Train to Georgia. The song’s writer Jim Weatherly called his friend Lee Majors who was then dating Farrah and it was she who answered the phone. As they talked, she mentioned she was taking “the midnight plane to Houston” to visit her mother. Inspiration came. Weatherly wrote “Midnight Plane to Houston” and sent it to a producer. The producer demanded the mode of transportation be change to train and that the destination be Georgia. They were the only changes made to the song.