Delco Symphony Plays The 5th — The Delaware County Symphony will perform Beethoven’s well known Fifth Symphony this Sunday, March 5, at Neumann University’s Meagher Theater.
The music begins at 3 p.m. but plan on arriving early to enjoy a discussion with Dr C. Michael Kelly at 2 p.m. regarding the program’s selections and composers. Peace and Hope, the title of the afternoon’s performance begins with Franz Schubert’s “unfinished symphony”. In addition special guest cellist Udi Bar-David joins the orchestra for Antonin Dvorak’s Cello Concerto in B Minor. Concluding the show, Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony Number 5 in C Minor, is sure to delight experienced concert goers and novice listeners alike.
Tickets for the concert, available day of show, are $18 general admission; $15 for seniors and students. Neumann University students receive free admission as do children 12 and under accompanied by a paying adult. Ample free parking is available.
The first “third party” in the United States was the Anti-Masonic Party. It won the governorships of Pennsylvania and Vermont, and took Vermont in the 1832 presidential election. It fizzled four years later. Its leaders backed William Henry Harrison and he just wouldn’t deny being a Freemason.
I reported last week that the Senate Appropriations committee was holding budget meetings this week.
This past Tuesday (Feb. 28), a hearing was held with the Department of Labor and Industry (L&I) at which time Kathy Mandarino, the Secretary of L&I testified.
Most of the questions asked by members of the committee were centered around the closings of the Unemployment Compensation Call Centers and layoffs of call center employees.
Senator Scott Martin (R-Lancaster County) asked, since we are being told that calls were going unanswered or delayed, are “all hands on deck” using supervisors or middle management people to help answer calls or process paperwork?
In the private sector, the term “all hands on deck” is used during surges in call volume or when extra labor is needed during certain times such as a snow storm, a tornado, and or flooding or some other type of crisis or emergency situation.
Also in the private sector, during certain times of the year a business may experience extreme surges in their business volume and it is a common practice for many other employees, such as managers and supervisors, to help out in specific departments, instead of hiring additional people.
Secretary Mandarino responded that since most of the call center employees were covered by a collectively bargained union contract that supervisors or upper level managers cannot perform collectively bargained work.
Senator Patrick Browne (R-Lehigh County) asked during his round of questioning for more specifics and Secretary Mandarino described the call center issues as bad as a “patient bleeding on a gurney.”
That response made me laugh – so if the patient is bleeding to death, only unionized employees covered under a collectively bargained contract can work to stop the bleeding and save the patient and non-unionized employees have to stand by and watch the patient bleed to death.
Seems reasonable as long I am not the patient.
Since the layoffs, my Senate office has received numerous calls from laid off workers – and we have helped every one that needed assistance to get benefits. You probably won’t be surprised to find out that many of those calls came from outside of my Senate district – and were prompted to call by Democrats and union bosses.
There are many hardworking people working for the Unemployment Compensation system here in Pennsylvania. It is a tragedy that they are required to pay dues to a union that has done nothing but make their job harder and use them to play political games.
If you recall over the last several years, I have reported that it is the public sectors unions that are running Harrisburg – the Unemployment Compensation Call Center situation is a great example – the two public sector unions that represent call center employees are the SEIU – Service Employees International Union and AFSCME – American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
I think you get the point of who is running Harrisburg – the public sector unions.
Stay tuned for more details of how the public sector unions have gained so much power and influence in Harrisburg – I will be sending an email next week.
Harrisburg & Public Sector Unions – the gift that keeps giving and taking!
Johann Pachelbel’s Canon and Gigue for 3 violins and basso continuo mostly fell off the orchestral playlist after his death in 1706. Almost 300 years later, though, French conductor Jean-François Paillard put it on vinyl and and had a hit.
And now it is a standard.
A canon, by the way, is compositional technique that repeats a variation of a melody. A gigue is a dance. It’s from whence the word “jig” comes.
William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 3-2-17 French conductor Jean-François Paillard
Libertarian Discusses Addict Criminalization — The Dale Kerns Campaign will discuss the impact of legal force on addicts, 11 a.m. Sunday, March 12, at the Clarion Philadelphia Airport Hotel, 76 Industrial Highway, Essington.
Dale Kerns
Kerns is seeking the Libertarian Party nomination for U.S. Senate to run against U.S Sen. Bob Casey in 2018.
This event, inspired by Kerns’ own recent loss of a loved one to drug addiction, is intended to show the negative impact that the criminalization of addiction has on families.
It also addresses how criminalization makes the growing drug epidemic significantly worse, and how the Libertarian position of decriminalization and legalization makes things better. This will be the first in a series of “Addiction is Not a Crime” events to draft a bill to propose to Congress concerning the rights of citizens suffering from drug addiction. Guests will hear a slate of speakers versed in Libertarian and addiction related fields.
Besides Kerns, speakers will be Christopher Dreisbach, CEO of Blueprints for Addiction Recovery, who is celebrating 10 years of sobriety; and Christopher Bastone, contributor on PHL Radio, who served with U.S. Air Force Intelligence.
Public toilets in ancient Rome were dangerous. Flames would occasionally burst from the hole due the methane gas trapped. Not fun to be sitting there when such a thing happened.
Fear Not Nihilists, Yon Republicans — For any Republican legislator who feels a need for a shot of spine concerning the protests at GOP town halls, it has been conclusively revealed that those causing the disruptions are not their constituents but organized — and often paid — outsiders.
“No, Donny, these men are nihilists, there’s nothing to be afraid of,” as Walter Sobchak would say.
Here’s the audio as obtained by 96.5 KPEL of Lafayette, La.
